It’s funny what a couple of wins will do to a football team.
A month ago Southern United were languishing in eighth position on the Coastal Premier League Men’s ladder and appeared to be a few gears off the teams in finals contention.
Fast forward four weeks and the Ospreys have made their move and surged into third position after a 1-0 defeat of Port United on Tuesday night.
But coach Jonathan Newman still knows they aren’t where they need to be.
“Right now we’re still a few shades off where we need to get to knock off the two Coffs sides, but we’re a heck of a lot closer than we were at the start of the season,” he said.
The Ospreys have picked up 15 points from a possible 18 in their last six matches with a 2-1 defeat to Coffs Tigers the only blemish in that time.
They don’t have the worst run into the finals although there are a number of fixtures that would come with no guarantees – something the coach is well aware of.
“It’s a bit of a challenge to see where it all pans out,” he said.
“[Northern] Storm are a crucial opponent, Sawtell are still in the mix and we’ve still got to play Taree where you’d hope to pick up points there, but they’re always going to lift against us.”
They finish with a tricky trip to Kempsey to tackle Macleay Valley Rangers who have only failed to score in one match all season.
“Any team from Macleay Valley in my experience is never going to make life easy for you and they’re our last game of the regular season so it’s still a big challenge,” Newman said.
The coach, however, said his team will take plenty of confidence out of taking all three points off Port United.
He feels they are a genuine premiership contender.
“We looked at this game as one that was absolutely crucial for us because my impression is that Port United is definitely one of the frontrunners and it’s no surprise that they did turn over Coffs United,” he said.
“For us to not only pick up a point off them, but win, that’s going to really give us a lot of confidence.”
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