Birthday boy Scott Witschge is adamant Inglewood United will not be taking lightly an as-yet-pointless Sorrento outfit when they meet in this weekend’s Night Series round. Sorrento, a four-time State champion, has opened the pre-season competition with back-to-back losses, however, Witschge is well aware that will mean nothing when kick-off arrives at Dorrien Gardens on Sunday (5.00pm).
“You don’t underestimate any opponent, as soon as you do you’re asking for trouble,” said Witschge, who celebrated his 21st birthday on Wednesday. “You have to show up on the day and play the game your way. We know Sorrento are the sort of side that can win a corner or free-kick late in a game and find a goal, so we will be doing our best to keep them scoreless.”
“I’m expecting it to be a physical and fairly direct game – that is what we have come to know and expect of Sorrento,” he continued. “But the boys have put in some extremely hard work over the past couple of months. Our approach is that each and every game is there to be won, and we have no desire of losing our momentum coming into the league season.”
That momentum has so far earned Inglewood a 4-2 win over Armadale and a narrow 1-0 loss to Cockburn City from their first two Night Series outings. “We should be two from two after the way we played against Cockburn,” Witschge commented. “We were on top of them for huge portions of the game but didn’t take our chances, whereas they made the most of one of their few chances.”
Witschge has plans to cement his place in Inglewood’s first eleven this winter after twice being robbed of that opportunity. The young defender was on the verge of first team selection in 2012 when he was diagnosed with a blood clot in his lung, and last winter it was a dislocated shoulder that brought things to a premature end. Now back to full fitness, Witschge is again enjoying his football.
“At the moment I’m just loving being back in training and working hard to give myself the best opportunity to be picked on the weekends,” he said. “This year I want to play as many games as possible and be part of a special time at Inglewood. I played under Michael (Garcia) in the Reserves and I’m excited about what he can do for the club.”
“Team unity and cohesion is strong and getting stronger with every game,” he added. “It’s early days under a new coach with a new system and a few new players so the more games we get under our belt then the better off we will be. What we learn about ourselves in the Night Series will put us in a good position once the league season begins.”
