Monbulk Rangers boss Quenten Wells took the positives out of his sides spirited 3-1 loss against hosts Sandringham SC, which saw the club break a six game scoreless run.
The away side looked competitive throughout, matching Sandy’s work rate and endeavour around the ground.
Although the game was lost in the midfield, with the Rangers struggling to create clear-cut chances, Wells chose to take a different angle, praising the clubs ability to shut down their opponents.
“We took a big step forward tonight, we were competitive,” the head coach said.
“Sandringham never looked to have total dominance of the game and we had our fair share of the play.
“We probably didn’t create as many opportunities as I’d like but as far as defensively and in our midfield, we didn’t give away too many opportunities either.
“We gave it away a few times in poor spots but we pressured them as well and they gave it away. [There was] improvement in that area and we were right in the game until probably the last 10 minutes.”
Those last few moments saw midfield dynamo Sienna Fogarty put the game to bed in Sandy’s favour as she struck a bullet in the 81st minute to make it 3-1.
“That gave them the two goal buffer and up until then we were still in it,” Wells said.
“We had a couple of half chances where the girls got closed down at the top of the box just before they could get a shot off, or a through ball to try and create something but other than that I was reasonably happy with the performance of the girls.
“[It’s] just a big step from the last couple of weeks where it’s been really tough and nothing’s really gone right for us.”
One thing that did go right for them this week was a first goal in seven games, and although it didn’t come off the boot of a Monbulk player, Wells was happy just to have troubled the scorers.
“We got a bit of luck today with the ball going into the back of the net for the first time in a few weeks albeit off the oppositions foot but we’ll take them however we can get them at the moment,” he said.
“I don’t think we can claim [the goal]. I turned to the girls on the bench and I said ‘look I don’t really know how that’s ended up in the back of the net’. I can’t even explain it, but we’ll take it.”
Focusing his attentions onto tomorrow’s crunch match against fellow strugglers Casey Comets, the Monbulk coach is hoping to get some consistency into the starting line-up with a raft of first-team players returning.
“We’ve got a short turn around; Casey on Friday night,” Wells said.
“We’ve got some girls back from overseas for a few weeks. That strengthens our senior squad immensely having those girls back around the squad so hopefully now we can get a bit of consistency in the team getting picked every week.
“There’s been chopping and changing over the last few weeks with injuries and girls going away so now right until the end of the season we should have a fair bit of consistency with the girls coming in.
“We’ll be able to work on some stuff and just continually step forward and see if we can get a few points here and there and chase those ones in front of us.”
Monbulk Rangers take on 10th place Casey tomorrow at Monbulk Recreation Reserve with kick-off scheduled for 8:30pm.