MetroStars Perry Mitris wants to follow up golden boot effort with win in Aussie NPL semi finals

METROSTARS facing South Melbourne in Sunday’s Australian NPL semi final in Melbourne is Perry Mitris’ five star chance to shine.

MMETROSTARS’ boss Ivan Karlovic struck gold when he shifted Perry Mitris forward at the start of last season.

Karlovic uncovered a rare quality Mitris had bottled up before the striker claimed this year’s NPL golden boot.

Mitris is now scoring goals for fun bagging 11 goals in 2013 and 22 goals this season after playing most of his career in defence as a left back or wide midfielder.

MetroStars now facing South Melbourne in Sunday’s Australian NPL semi final in Melbourne is Mitris’ chance to prove A-League football is not a dream for the ex Reds youth team player.

“I want to do well against South Melbourne and there is incentive,’’ Mitris said after MetroStars beat WA’s Bayswater City in the quarterfinal of the NPL series in Perth last weekend.

“South Melbourne is a big club they have had huge success in the NSL and the Victorian premier league if anything it’s regarded as the strongest league in Australia.

“We’re definitely up there in terms of our league, look at Adelaide City in the FFA Cup and us as well and this does our league a lot of justice.

“But I am thinking about making a move to Victoria for my career, I have had some offers but I also have to look carefully at the job opportunities.”

Mitris is a law clerk for PGC Legal.

He has recently completed a bachelor of laws/legal practice and a bachelor of business degree but says combining work and forging a professional football career is difficult.

“What I found most is that when you’re in uni when you’re 19 or 20 you have a bit more free time to do your training but as you get older you devote more time to earning an income,’’ Mitris said.

“The more time you’re at work the less time you could be in the gym or practising with a ball.

“But I have a really good boss who is really flexible, he allows me to leave work for training early at 4.30pm and also allows me to do these interstate trips.

”South Melbourne does have an Adelaide connection with former Adelaide United youth and Campbelltown City’s Dion Kirk making the move east this year alongside former Red Brad Norton.