After initially departing in 2023, it’s no surprise that Dean Ugrinic’s return to the Canberra Croatia dugout has coincided with another trophy to add to the club’s illustrious cabinet, as his side won 4-3 over Tigers FC in a Grand Final for the ages.
Given the club’s recent endeavours in finals matches, the belief within the squad that they could win the match, despite being 3-1 down to Tigers an hour into the contest, proved to be enough for Ugrinic’s side to fight back to 3-3 at the death and eventually win the match in extra time.
“It doesn’t do my heart any good, but yeah it was exciting, both teams tried to play today, both teams put on an exhibition,” the Head Coach said. “I thought Tigers were unbelievable for three quarters of the game, [and] at the end of the day it’s about finishing the game and we probably had a little bit extra in us off the bench and perhaps that made the difference.
In terms of his side’s performance, Ugrinic says it was night and day comparing the start of the match to the end.
“When I think about the first half obviously they got two goals… we were really sluggish and they were right on it,” Ugrinic said. “I thought that we were doing some really nice things but it was that final pass for whatever reason we just couldn’t stick… we were fortunate to get that scrappy goal just before half time, that’s probably the crucial one.
“When I think about the second half I thought that twenty minutes there where we scored and we scored again and we scored again, we were on top, completely dominant, and ran over the top of them in extra time, and of course Browny [Sam Brown] pulls off a save, it’s unbelievable.”
In terms of the changes Ugrinic made to turn the tide of the match, the Croatia coach says he focused on freshening up the personnel rather than making a tactical switch.
“It was more about just making some changes to get us back into the game, maybe get some more ball players in the middle of the park, bring Daniel Colbertaldo in, Keegan [Vucetic] in, who can now connect with our two sixes, obviously we got to the point where we needed to make some changes, pull some attacking players on and I thought maybe those changes really made the difference for us, because we could’ve scored a couple right late in the second half, and then of course in extra time.”
Having responded with a strong mentality to the early dominance of Tigers, it was an eventual performance to be proud of from Ugrinic’s team, who set up his side having analysed Croatia’s opposition thoroughly in the build-up to the match and then recognised changes in Ali Efe’s tactics.
“We knew that they were very well structured, they’re really well organised, we thought they were going to press from the top, they surprised us a little bit when they were waiting for a pass and the trigger for that to press,” he said. “We weren’t putting enough pressure from the top at the back you know with the fullbacks so they were able to knock these long diagonals, and get one-on-ones with the wide guys because they were very effective, so once that stopped I thought we started to get on top of them.”
Five weeks into the 2024 NPL Men’s season, Croatia sat sixth with just one victory and four points. Additionally, a cup exit in the Quarter Finals at the hands of Monaro Panthers left the mood surrounding the side at a significant low.
Ugrinic’s return to the club for Round Six however, began to turn the tide, in a re-appointment that would go on to inspire a quality campaign for the club, due to the Head Coach’s focus on small goals throughout the season, and on revamping the squad’s morale.
“When we first came in we came [into] a group that was relatively dispirited, [a] couple of results didn’t go their way, things weren’t going great for them,” he said. “We set about initially just going right, we’re going to avoid relegation, and so once we thought ok we’ve reached that, let’s see if we get top four, and when I saw top four was achievable then all of a sudden we’re going, let’s see if we can win the championship.
“It probably did start a revival in the group, but what I did find was that they were just happier, they were just a really happy group, and when you’re a happy group they’ll start playing, and they can play some really great football.”
Having finished fourth in 2023 on goal difference, and second in 2024, Croatia is slowly building toward what could become a particularly dominant period of seasons in the NPL Men’s.
While this is always the target for such a success-driven football club, Ugrinic says plenty of personnel changes are always expected after a positive season.
“We’re going to lose a couple of players so it is difficult,” he said. “The club needs to win games, that’s what we’re all about, so we’re sort of hoping that we can bring in some excellent players from our Under-23s, bring them up, and when I think about it next year, you want players to move on to bigger and better things.
“If we win a championship that’s always the ultimate goal, the club demands success and they want trophies, so that’s ultimately what we’re hoping to build, another championship and Grand Final-winning team.”
(Words: Sam Watson)
