IT will be a weekend of road trips for Swan Hill’s Bendigo Amateur Soccer League teams, with all four sides playing away this Saturday.
Swan Hill’s men’s team will take centre stage when they play Border Raiders FC in Moama, while the club’s women’s and junior boys teams will travel to Bendigo.
With a draw from their first two matches, a win is a must for the new look Swans men’s side, who currently find themselves outside the top four and five points behind ladder leaders Strathfieldsaye Colts United.
Despite being forced to share the points against Spring Gully United, last Sunday’s match was an encouraging step forward for Swan Hill, with men’s coach Tony Di Palma impressed with his team’s defence effort.
“Over our last few games and even in our pre-season games, our back four always holds its own,” Di Palma said.
“Jai Wright was huge again, and Tyler (Carr) on the other side played his role brilliantly too.
“I’m so grateful that we’ve got those guys in place, because they just put their heart and soul into the game so to speak.
“It started at the back, we worked from the back and worked ourselves forward but in saying that, the midfielders seem to be working a lot better than the previous week, too.
“We’re slowly returning to playing the brand of soccer that we played last season, everyone’s trying to get an understanding of it all, but it’s going to take us a couple of weeks.
“Over the next two or three weeks, we’ll find out where we’re at again.”
While his team’s defence has held strong over the first two rounds, it’s up forward where the Swans will be looking for improvement, with the combination of Conner Brown and Liam Baldwin beginning to show positive signs last weekend.
Both Swan Hill’s women’s and under 14 boys teams will take on Spring Gully this weekend, with both teams freshened after having last weekend off.
With two win, two loss record, Swan Hill’s women’s side find themselves inside the top six and will go to Stanley Avenue hopeful of returning with a result despite being without several key players including Charley Baskin, Alycia Anderson and Luciana Senes.
Midfielder Heidi Annand and forward Kayla Chrisp will return however, with Annand likely to play a key role as a defensive midfielder for the Swans, with Mardene de Villiers also expected to return for her first game of the season following a pre-season knee injury.
The final match of the weekend will see Swan Hill’s under 16 boys side take on Epsom FC at Epsom-Huntly Reserve from 11am tomorrow.
