Tara Murray
Westside Strikers know they can’t slip up if they want to consolidate their spot in FV state league 3 north-west.
At the halfway mark of the competition, the Strikers sit seventh on the ladder with four wins and three draws from their 11 matches.
The competition though is incredibly close with just seven points separating third placed Diamond Valley United and 11th placed Point Cook before the weekend’s matches.
Strikers coach Simon Vasconcelo said there had been some really positive signs in their first season in this division.
“It has been a challenge, rebuilding and having a whole new team,” he said.
“The first goal was to put out a team and be competitive and we are doing that.
“Sometimes the results aren’t as good as we feel like we deserve.
“The boys are playing some good football, we need to take a few more chances and it will create a few more points.”
Vasconcelo said they had been able to gain some respect in the first half of the season which was important for them.
He said they wanted to play in a good spirit and get some good results.
Vasconcelo said the aim for the second half of the season was to turn some of those close results into more points.
He said there were some encouraging signs for the second half of the season, but there was plenty of hard work to do.
“The pressure is on even the third placed team can not relax,” he said. “They need to look over their shoulder, a couple of wins or a couple of losses changes things.
“It’s one of the tightest leagues going around.
“It makes it exciting and you want to be part of the competition. The pressure is on the whole time, you’re always fighting.”
Vasconcelo, who was one of the Strikers inaugural players, said it was a different challenge stepping up into the head coaching role.
“It’s different to reserves and juniors,” he said. “You always want to win, but the pressure is on to win every game as the club depends on the senior team to get results.
“We’ve gone up a division and you don’t want to make the wrong choices and the club is down the bottom.
“You’re always thinking, it’s a 24-7 job.”
The Strikers faced the Sebastopol Vikings on Saturday, after deadline.
The Vikings got a 1-0 win.
The Strikers lost the first time round with Vasconcelo saying they believed they were better prepared to take the points this time round.
