Sandringham SC goal scorer Emma Runnalls has conceded that the pressure on her side to perform this season has been immense, but in the wake of their 3-1 win over Monbulk Rangers, believes they’ll improve from here on out.
After such a successful 2013, all eyes were always going to be on Sandy in their league and cup defense, yet for some reason expectations haven’t translated onto the pitch.
A string of three consecutive league losses was only broken by yesterday’s result against the leagues bottom club, but it was a result that Runnalls was happy with as it gives them a platform to improve on.
“We’re really happy about today, I know we’ve had a really rough patch but we all had a big team talk on Wednesday night, got a bit of air out,” the striker said.
“I think we worked really well, we kicked it around better today.
“Obviously we could’ve gotten more goals but the pitch was very fast and hard to get our through balls in but yeah, we worked well as a team today.
“We’re just going slowly, trying to get better and looking at the next game.”
She was also of the belief that today’s game will go some way to relieving the pressure surrounding the camp.
“There was a lot of pressure,” admitted Runnalls.
“After winning the Grand Final, everybody’s expecting you to be amazing but I definitely think tonight’s game will help us push up, get our confidence back.”
Speaking of confidence, the forward is hoping hers has returned after breaking a mini-drought with her 54th minute strike.
“It was good [to score], about time too! I haven’t scored in the past two or three but it was good to get a goal back on the sheet.
“I think that’s 9 or 10 [for the season] so hopefully there’s a few more”
The Sandy girls will need every bit of that confidence, with the daunting prospect of facing South Melbourne in the cup in a fortnight’s time.
Runnalls didn’t go so far as to say that the focus is completely on the cup, but conceded that it is high in the thinking within the club.
“We’ve been pretty lucky with the draw in the cup but we’re definitely looking towards that; if we win that, our confidence is going to fly again, the second year in a row.
“We are looking forward to that, [now we’re] just waiting for the fixture to come out.”