Melbourne Heart FC NYL captain Dusan Bosnjak has heralded the side’s inaugural season an overall success after rounding off the youth campaign with a friendly win over Surf Coast FC on Sunday.
Melbourne Heart FC NYL captain Dusan Bosnjak has heralded the side-s inaugural season an overall success after rounding off the youth campaign with a friendly win over Surf Coast FC on Sunday.
Featuring a squad comprising of players largely untested at National Youth League level, assembled following a state wide talent search, Heart managed to cement itself as one of the competition-s front runners.
After a dominant first half of the season, John Aloisi-s side loomed as likely champions, facing a run home featuring eight of nine matches in Melbourne, only to falter late to finish fourth on the table.
“I thought we started the season pretty well given we were a new team,” Bosnjak said.
“Other teams have been in the competition for three years so, we started off well for the first half of the season, but in the second, we dropped off.”
Given the complexion of Heart-s squad, built as it was from players unexposed to elite level youth football, Bosnjak felt a lack of experience was what ultimately proved costly.
“Was it due to how we acted mentally, how we responded, maybe so, but all in all it was a good season,” Bosnjak said.
“It would have great if we were to win the league, but we did have senior players dropping down, helping us out as well, and that was always good to have their helping hand.
“And we did play a number of senior A-League players as well, which made things harder for us, but a bit more realistic considering we do want to play in the A-League sometime in the future.”
One of the undoubted highlights of Heart youth-s inaugural campaign was its participation in the Hawaiian Islands Invitational, where the side faced 2010 MLS Champions Colorado Rapids and K-League giants Busan I-Park.
Despite entering the competition as underdogs, Heart youth stunned the competition by forcing Busan to a penalty shootout to decide who would feature in the final, only to fall in gallant fashion before suffering a 0-1 loss to Colorado in the third placed playoff.
