Gallery | Goulburn Valley Suns bow out of Australia Cup, but return to winning ways in league

On the other, Saturday bore the Orangemen’s first league victory in a month, vaulting them back into the top six conversation after a comprehensive performance against Werribee City.

Though it’s rare to have your cake and eat it too, coach Craig Carley couldn’t help but look back on the cup exit as a bittersweet moment in the season.

“It’s definitely disappointing to go out of the cup,” Carley said.

“I know the 4-1 scoreline sounds a bit one-sided, but it was far from that — on another day we’d have won that game quite comfortably.

“Their coach was very complimentary about our boys and our style of play afterwards and, if we’d have taken our chances, we could still be on that cup run.”

Dandenong converted its first via a header on the stroke of half-time before piling on the rest during the second half, the Suns scoring through Brandon Giaccherini for what was merely a consolation.

With no time to stew on the loss, it was action stations on Saturday night as Werribee City swarmed to Shepparton.

However, it appeared the Bees were all buzz and no sting.

The Suns looked comfortable in possession and threatened throughout, finally breaking through in the first half after a clinical error by the opposition.

A Werribee player gifted the ball to Sean Grant on the wing, who wasted no time fizzing in a cross to Giaccherini who rifled the ball past the keeper and in for 1-0.

Pressure was building on Werribee’s back and it broke once more early in the second term as Danny Edwards carved out a chance and was able to slip the ball to Giaccherini inside the box.

And in the form he’s in, that’s as good as fatal.

The winger-turned-striker feinted inside and thrashed the ball into the roof of the net, sounding the Bees’ death knell and taking his league tally to five for the season.

With the Suns closing the game out cosily, Carley was largely satisfied with his side’s response to three consecutive losses across all competitions.

“Obviously, it’s always good to keep a clean sheet and score two goals,” he said.

“We probably could’ve been a bit more ruthless in front of goals and deserved a few more, to be honest, but I’m really happy with getting back onto the winners’ list.

“It was just a good all round solid performance, the boys were a lot more positive and playing on the front foot and that’s what we want.”

A pack reshuffle worked in the Suns’ favour against Werribee, with a number of starters from the cup loss starring on Saturday night.

Japanese import Hideyuki Ochi returned to the starting XI and played as a metronome through the midfield, while the decision to play Giaccherini as a central forward rather than out wide clearly paid dividends.

Carley also praised Stefan Pigatto for his cameo in defence, but when asked what was the key to securing three points after a mini dry spell, it mostly boiled down to bravery in attack.

“We always analyse our opposition, but I think ultimately it comes down to us implementing our own game plan,” he said.

“I thought we executed that really well on Saturday, I encouraged the boys to be more positive, to be braver, to play forward a lot more and ask questions of their back four.

“We certainly did that a lot more this week than we have in the last couple of weeks.”