Brad Jones is by no means hitting the panic button but admits time is of the essence as New Lambton chase their first win of the season when they host Mid Coast in Herald Women's Premier League on Sunday.
The defending minor premiers and champions have taken just one point from their first three outings. All have been close encounters, including a last-minute 2-1 loss to Magic when play resumed last weekend. But, with the competition reduced from 21 rounds to 14, Jones knows the importance of securing victory at Alder Park this weekend.
"We need to start racking up points," Jones said. "In a 14-round competition, you can't be waiting until round six to actually start chasing some points. The mood in the camp is really good. Everyone's obviously disappointed about last weekend, and that's OK, but it's time to actually now start to convert those points because you don't want to be relying on other results later in the season.
"The focus is to be a bit more clinical in front of goal this week, to convert those good chances into marks on the scoreboard. But nothing too dissimilar. We're not that far from the mark."
New Lambton go into round four in seventh spot. Mid Coast are in a three-way tie for fourth place with Broadmeadow and Warners Bay on three points and will be buoyed by their first win of the season last round. Courtney Anderson, who had a break-out season with Merewether last year before returning to Mid Coast, scored four goals as they beat Thornton 5-2.
"She's quality and scoring four last week shows she knows how to be clinical," Jones said. "But they've also got some good young ex-Emerging Jets players in their squad, so I don't expect them to be relying on Courtney. There's a lot of talent there. The message to the girls is there's no preconceived thoughts of this weekend's safe. We actually have to grind it out and I expect it to be a grind."
Warners Bay coach Craig Atkins is sweating on an international clearance for American strike weapon Jen Hoy as they prepare for three games in seven days starting with Thornton at Thornton Park on Sunday.
Newcastle Olympic (six points) will still be without attacking player Tulia Palozzi due to a back complaint when they host unbeaten young guns Adamstown (seven points) at Darling Street Oval on Sunday. All games kick off at 3pm.
In the game on Friday night, Merewether moved to eight points and the top of the table with a 4-3 win over Broadmeadow at Arthur Edden Oval.
