Hajduk II concluded the first half of the season in terms of competition, but the players are still training, which was a decision of their coach Sinisa Orescanin, who will keep them active for two more weeks.
"This is a serious project involving a number of young players. We are not a typical Second League senior team that takes a break after the last whistle of a referee. These young men have to train and develop according to our plan and program, and besides, this break would be too long for them. Their training will last for two more weeks and they will play a friendly match in Capljina next Wednesday. After that, they will take a break, but everyone will get the individual programs they need to follow during the break".
The half-season in the numbers looks like this: Hajduk II is holding the eighth place on the table with 24 points, they collected seven wins, three draws and nine defeats with a 23:20 goal difference. Ivo Grbic and Luka Pasaricek played the most matches, and the top scorers were Ivan Delic, who scored five goals and Michele Sego, with one goal less. In addition, Sinisa Orescanin's team was the youngest in the Second HNL, the average age was 20.6 years. The biggest victory took place in the 14th round, against Novigrad at Poljud, Hajduk won 5:1, and the average age of the starting eleven players in the match was 19.6 years.
"I would like to emphasize that this was the first half in the Second HNL for the club and the players, we used it for the adaptation to senior football and when we take a look at what we did, I think it is somewhere in line with our expectations. I can't get rid of the impression that the overall picture would be much better if we ended the half-season with a win at Poljud. Our primary goal is the development of young players, but of course the result should not be neglected and we have the obligation to keep certain position on the table, because for this project it is very important that Hajduk II keeps playing Second HNL. On the other hand, perhaps this situation is not bad, our goal is for our players to become Hajduk's first team players and they must learn to cope with pressure" says Orescanin and adds:
"I have to say that I am satisfied with the progress and adaptation of the young players to this League. I have the impression that a lot of teams entered unprepared in the season and worked on that later, it was one of the reasons we had more problems at the end of half-season. My opinion is that in some of the elements of the structure of the game, control and possession, we were better with time, but as for results, we were a bit naive and lost points because of unnecessary individual mistakes. But, I think it is a process of growing up, my colleagues and I knowingly aspire to our philosophy that is developed in our Academy. Maybe in some of the games we could end the match by playing the opposite of our philosophy and win more points, but this was our choice. We want to play position football, where it is very important for players to understand their position, structure, adaptation to opponent systems as well as our system. It is a very complex football that we encourage in our Academy and it is very good for the club".
Does this mean that those that tomorrow become first team players can easily adopt to all the coach's requirements?
"That's right, some of our players are already playing for the first team, and we now see the first results of the planned work and the selection of players born in 2000, who are, athough very young, already preparing with us for the first league football. I am extremely pleased that these youngest players justified our expectations, I refer to Michele Sego and Ante Palaversa, and Domagoj Bradaric, who is the same generation because he was born in December 1999. Leon Krekovic should also be a part of this group, but unfortunately he missed most of this half-season due to injury, but now he is recovering successfully. One year older Darko Nejasmic also played an excellent half-season, he had specific tasks that he successfully fulfilled and was a decisive player in some games, of course with the support of the whole team. Although we are the youngest team in the league, I must point out the contribution of the oldest among them, Goran Gruica, whose arrival helped us a lot. He is a very intelligent player of great character, who has been excellent in correcting and leading such a young team".
Are there any goals that you still want to accomplish?
"I was hoping that Josip Basic would manage to fully return to play the first half of the season, he is an extremely talented and interesting modern player. One of my greatest goals at the beginning of the season was to bring him back to the real competitive football. We have not succeeded in this for a number of reasons, but we don't give up. He has now finally recovered from injury, recently he played several good matches and I believe that this spring will be his, so that he can return to the first team. Of course, we will continue introducing young players and I believe that Franko Kovacevic will get a chance and use it, after he marked the end of the half-season with good games, as well as Krekovic, who is returning to play. We have a plan and insight into all the Academy and I'm happy to point out that Krekovic is not the last player that developed in our Academy and is joining Hajduk II. Hajduk's Academy has about twenty international players, all under contracts, but we will not stop there. Hajduk's Academy, apart from developing young players, continually organizes additional selection, and Hajduk II takes them as their last filter before they join the first team. We're only at the beginning of that road, but I'm sure it's worth patience, the results will soon be visible".
