Cairnlea boss Riccardo Marchioli has reiterated his belief that the squad at his disposal has more than enough strength to stay in the league come next season.
With the club perilously close to the drop zone – their 4-0 loss against Sandringham on Monday night leaving them 10th with a five point gap between relegation – the head coach has pointed to the spirit within the camp, believing that’ll be enough to steer them home.
“I’m confident we’ll stay up, I’m very confident. The spirit in the squad is quite good and the results don’t get to them.” Marchioli said.
“This squad is very close and that’s due to the work we’ve done throughout the season, trying to make sure the atmosphere around the squad is as positive as possible and that they’re enjoying their football.
“If they continue playing like they did in the first half [against Sandringham] then the results will come because the deserve it. They really, really deserve it.
The results that have been happening in the past few weeks haven’t fazed them. They’ve continued trying to play, continued backing each other and continued being positive so I’m confident that we’ll stay up.”
The heavy loss against Sandringham wasn’t as bad as it appeared on paper, three of the four goals coming from set-pieces.
Marchioli chose to praise the way in which his side tried to play football, namely their efforts in playing the ball out from the back, which was a big focus mid-week.
“We’ve been [working on playing out from the back] for the past few weeks. We’ve had a couple of video sessions on it. We’ve done some practical sessions on it,” the head coach said.
“I’m sure you saw for yourself in the first half we were quite comfortable. We were playing out quite well, playing out very quickly, getting over halfway as comfortably as you like.
“The disappointing thing was that once we conceded the goal, the heads did drop slightly and for a period in the first half and the start of the second, the playing out wasn’t as strong as it could’ve been.
“They’re enjoying playing [the style], it’s fun to play. They’re playing football, getting touches on the ball and they’re not just booting it and trying to win headers. They’re playing a more cultured style, they realise that and they’re all for it.”
With a tough road home for Cairnlea – South Melbourne, Bundoora United and a game this week against Heidelberg to come – Marchioli will be hoping his squad can return to full fitness, after losing a couple of players in the Sandringham game.
“Bridie Kean’s broken her nose, and we also had Suzanne Asembo’s come off with an ankle injury at half-time,” he said.
“We had to make two forced changes at the back at half-time which didn’t really help but the girls were quite strong in the second half.
“[Asembo’s] touch and go, she should be back, hopefully she’ll be back. She did run out the rest of the first half but she was struggling so we’re not too sure.
“We’ll give her the next couple of days and we’ll see how she’s travelling.”
Cairnlea host Heidelberg United on Sunday afternoon, with both sides desperate for a win at opposite ends of the table. Kick-off at Cairnlea Park is scheduled for 3:00pm.