Inglewood United may have won two of their last three games but Michael Garcia insists his team are still a work in progress. Recent defeats of Perth Glory and Armadale have helped cast off the shackles of a disappointing start to the National Premier Leagues season, and moved Inglewood to just three points outside the top five.
Those successes are a just reward for Garcia and his team, however, the rookie coach says Inglewood is still some way from achieving their potential. “It might take a little while longer for us to gel,” he conceded on Tuesday’s edition of ‘Let’s Talk Football’. “It’s a bit frustrating, but I feel we’re below where we should be with the group of players that we’ve got.”
“In saying that, we’ve played pretty well most of the time (but) let ourselves down in a couple of games. That’s cost us and put us in the position that we’re in. Offensively we’ve not been as fluent as I’d like and capitalising on our chances, which has given the opposition opportunities to stay on the game or get a result out of us.”
With two-thirds of the season yet to be played, Garcia says there is plenty of time for eighth-place Inglewood to make up ground on those above them. “The season is a marathon, a couple of results go our way and we’re back in the mix,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of confidence and belief in ourselves, we just need to make a statement against a good team.”
Such an opportunity presents itself on Saturday when third-placed Stirling Lions visit Inglewood Stadium. “They’re flying at the moment,” Garcia said of the leagues’ highest scoring team. “Not many people would have expected them to be as high on the ladder as they are. But credit to Stirling, they had to recruit some players and gel a new squad together and they’ve done that really well.”
“It’s another good test to see where we sit when it comes to the top of the table teams,” Garcia continued. “Defensively we want to make sure we’re on our game and hopefully our strikers can make the most of their opportunities and put Stirling on the back foot.” Inglewood and Stirling lock horns from 3.00pm this Saturday.
Photograph by Peter Simcox
