Attacker Kenny Keogh says Inglewood United will make amends for their early Night Series exit by starting the 2018 National Premier Leagues season strongly.   Inglewood hosts Stirling Lions under lights at Perth Plasterboard Centre Stadium on Friday 23 February in the first game of the new campaign.

It will be the team’s first competitive outing since last month’s loss to Floreat Athena which saw them eliminated from the Night Series at the first hurdle.   Speaking on the eve of his fourth winter at Inglewood, Keogh made it clear he and his teammates have put that disappointment behind them.

“Getting knocked out of the Night Series was pretty tough to take.   We didn’t perform against Floreat and the whole team was disappointed with the result,” Keogh admitted.   “But we have re-grouped and are working very hard to be ready for the season opener against Stirling Lions in a couple of weeks.”

“The bonds we’ve got within the player group are brilliant.   In the last two years we’ve been through a lot together and those experiences have made us stronger as well as increased everyone’s desire to pick up a trophy.   We’re keen to raise our standards to make sure we’re better than we were last year.”

“It’s important that we start strongly and get as many points on the board as possible from those first few games.   The league was very close last year and it’ll be the same again this year, there are four or five teams that are very evenly matched and if you lose ground early it’s going to be difficult to recover.”