PORTLAND’S division one men’s soccer team enjoyed a successful return to action in round one of the South West Victorian Football Association’s 2024 season, as they defeated Port Fairy 3-2.

The Panthers travelled to JJ Colledge Oval to take on the Plovers and were able to hit the front early via a cross and solid finish from Troy Jensen.

Jensen doubled his tally for the day shortly thereafter with a header from a set piece after the Panthers won a free kick in an attacking position.

The frenetic scoring pace continued, but this time it was Port Fairy who were able to make the most of their considerable time in possession to find their striker in space, and a clinical finish made it 2-1.

From there both teams’ defences finally started to get on top, with the Panthers going into half time with their one-goal lead intact.

Panthers playing-coach Anu Ganugapati, who was sidelined for this match due to injury, said it was very pleasing for the group to get off to a strong start to their season opener.

“Troy was our centre striker last year and has moved into more of a centre midfield role for this season, but it was good to see he hasn’t lost his goal-scoring capabilities,” Ganugapati said.

“He’s a six-foot-five monster in there and has the ability to be absolutely dominant when the ball is in the air.”

The Panthers have adopted a new formation for this season, playing with five at the back for this match.

This gave their wing backs in Charlie Keiller and recruit Andy Drill the ability to make runs forward and create near the sideline without leaving their defence too exposed on the counter.

However, this strategy required quality centre-back play for the Panthers to halt their opposition’s attacking forays, and they were able to find exactly this through another recruit in Toyosi Solanke, who was able to regularly win aerial battles and keep the ball out of danger.

However, eventually Port Fairy was able to find a bit of space midway through the second half and a clumsy challenge by the Panthers was rewarded with a penalty for the Plovers, which was coolly slotted to bring them back to level terms.

The Panthers began to find their groove going forward as well, but just couldn’t quite put the finish touches on some great play through the middle.

That was until Sandy Trace was played into space along the wing, which allowed Bodie Steel to get on the end of his cross and finish the job to give Panthers back the lead.

From there it was once again up to the Panthers’ defence to hold out under heavy pressure, and despite a few nervous moments the referee eventually blew his whistle to signal full time with Portland still on top.

Ganugapati said it was an all-round pleasing performance despite the closeness of the match on the scoreboard.

“We had quite a few new boys in the team and who really made their mark on debut, along with some of our experienced Panthers,” he said.

“Our defence was pleasing, it’s an area we’ve been working on this off-season especially with our new formation.

“We had some new boys down there and they did a great job and made some key challenges to keep them out.

“Andy and Charlie are really fit and fast players who are able to just dominate along the touchline, we’re focusing on using width as much as possible this season and they enable us to do that.”

He said he was impressed with the side’s ability to respond to the challenge thrown down by Port Fairy after they equalised at 2-2.

“We did a great job of reclaiming the ascendancy across the ground and holding possession for long periods of time, and it really felt like the goal was inevitable at some point.”

Ganugapati said the team would now regroup with an early bye round next weekend meaning they don’t hit the field again until May 19.

“It’s a good opportunity to assess where we’re at, and obviously we’ll be out there supporting our division two teammates when they play this coming weekend.”

Other games

Portland’s division two side earned a convincing win over Port Fairy, taking the three points with a 7-3 win behind a pair of goals to both Jake Davies and Nathan Adams.

It was a mixed bag across the junior grades, with the under-17s conceding defeat via forfeit, while the under-14s played out a thrilling 5-5 draw.

In Portland under-10s’ first hit out they struggled against Stawell going down 22-1.