Photo Credit: Monaro Panthers FC

Woden-Weston PS4 NPL Coach Tony Olivera believes his side has ‘turned the corner’, after a tough start to the season ended with wins over Monaro and the FFA Centre of Excellence in recent weeks.

The Wanderers began the season with a 3-1 loss to the Centre of Excellence, but kicked off the second half of the campaign on Thursday night with a hard-fought 2-1 victory at the AIS, instilling belief in Olivera’s side. 

That win came two weeks after their 5-0 win over Monaro in Round 8, a result that Olivera sees as the turning point for his young side.

“I think the boys turned a corner against Monaro,” he said. 

“Where all the frustration from bad luck the weeks before culminated in a really good win and really good performance against Monaro. 

“Then we actually matched that performance against Tigers for about 70 minutes, going in at half-time 2-1, and basically dominating most of the first half.”

Olivera’s side went on to lose the match against Tigers 4-2 in a hectic second half, but says his side now have belief after Thursday’s win, having started the season unsure of where they were at.

“At the beginning of the year they didn’t have the belief,” Olivera said. 

“A lot of these youngsters have come in from U/20’s or Capital League, and some of them had question marks over whether they could compete in the NPL.”

“But now most of them like Daniel Crkovski, Olaide [Yinka-Kehinde], Will Liston, they now believe they can compete in the NPL.

Crkovski has been a livewire up front thus far, with seven goals in ten games to sit fifth on the top scorers table, and the Wanderers have already scored as many goals so far as they did the entire 2016 season.

“He started off a bit quiet,” Oliver said of the forward. 

“But him scoring goals has also lifted the team, and he had to step up with the hamstring injury to Olaide too.”

“But Danny has definitely been valuable to the team, and he is also a very nice guy. He is a very loyal guy and I can see big things happening for him in the next half of the year.”

With a weekend off now before they face Gungahlin away, Olivera hopes that he can have close to a first-choice Starting XI for that clash. 

“You know what, I’d love to field the same eleven two weeks in a row,” he laughed.

“I know Olaide is jumping out of his skin to return which will happen in the next few weeks.”

“We’ll have some rest and recovery [this week], and play the NPL 20’s in a semi-formal match on Thursday, before we get ready for the Gungahlin match, but hopefully we’ll have our full squad back on board soon and be much more competitive.