It was nice to get back to winning ways on the weekend.
After four defeats in a row, the boys really needed that 3-1 win, and you could see what it meant to them afterwards.
You could hear the noise coming out of the changerooms after the game and that’s always a good sign as a coach.
It certainly wasn’t the prettiest performance we’ve produced this season, but we knew coming down to Magic FC that it was never going to be an easy or polished game.
It’s a difficult pitch, a smaller ground and they’re a side that competes hard every week.
For us, the biggest thing was just making sure we got back to basics.
Over the last few weeks, we’ve probably been guilty of giving too much away ourselves, so the focus was on competing, staying solid and building our way into the match.
I thought the boys responded well to that challenge.
We made a few changes to the side which helped freshen things up.
It was great to get Zac Malty and Lucas Martins back involved again.
Lucas has been battling osteitis all season, so we’ve been careful with him and just trying to gradually build his minutes back up.
Zac’s had a frustrating start as well after missing a lot of pre-season, so the aim with him is also to slowly build him back into full match fitness.
It was also good to have Russell Parker back after he’d been away for the birth of his first child, while getting Josip Milicevic back into midfield gave us a bit more balance and control.
I think Jos is naturally more of a midfielder than a defender, even though he can do both jobs well.
We’ve been keen to move him back into that number six role as quickly as possible.
I thought Zac looked sharp as the game went on.
Like all players there are still areas he can improve, but for any striker it’s always nice to get on the scoresheet.
He probably could have had a hat-trick as well after hitting the post in the first half.
The disappointing part for me was conceding from a set piece because that’s not something we’ve done much of this season.
But to be fair, there’s a lot going on inside the box these days with blockers and movement patterns, and teams are getting very smart with how they create space at corners.
After conceding, I thought we had about a 10-minute spell where we just needed to settle ourselves down again.
Once we did that, I felt we started to control the game.
Our plan was always to stay in the contest during the first half and then try to open the game up more after the break.
In the second half we were able to press higher up the field and control territory much better, which is something we haven’t managed consistently over the past few weeks.
Most pleasing for me though was seeing the hunger and work ethic return.
There probably wasn’t a lot of pretty football in the first half from either side, but the players competed, stuck together and did the hard things well.
Sometimes that’s exactly what you need to rebuild confidence.
Now the challenge for us is backing it up next Friday night against Easts at home.
They’ve had a tough start to the year but they’re getting players back and starting to climb the table, so it’ll be another big test.
The important thing is that winning gives you confidence.
Hopefully now the boys can keep building on that momentum.
