HANWOOD Football Club will face its toughest Regional Premier League challenge to date when it travels to play the undefeated Shepparton Soccer Club this Sunday.
Not only is Hanwood coming up against the best side in the comp, the injury-plagued outfit will also have to rearrange the decks after it lost another back when Daniel Draskovic broke his nose during last Sunday’s match, just one week after Adam Close broke his leg.
But HFC coach Anthony Agresta said he had every confidence in the depth of his squad and believed the side could pose a serious challenge to Shepparton.
“This weekend is going to test us out and test out our depth,” Agresta said. “We’re going to be changing a few things up and trying a few people in different positions but at this stage we’re not certain (of the final playing structure).
“I’m hoping we can cover it – we’re going down there with open minds.”
While Shepparton has only conceded five goals so far in the competition, Agresta said he was not concerned about his team finding the back of the net on Sunday.
“Scoring goals hasn’t been a problem for us this year,” he said.
“We’re sitting in fourth place in the comp so it’s not all doom and gloom.”
But Agresta admitted the number of goals his side had let slip through was something that needed to stop if they were going to keep a lid on Shepparton this weekend.
“We’re letting a few too many get through,” he said.
“It’s not the fault of defence, I believe that defence starts at the front and it’s something we have to rectify.
“We’re playing the ladder-leaders, they’re undefeated and that’s really going to be a test for us.”
While Hanwood has so far had a relatively easy time of it in terms of travelling – only heading out of Griffith once in the last five rounds – Agresta warned his men to keep their bags packed for the next month.
“The next month is going to be hard, we’ve got three out of four away from home but hopefully we’ll come out of it all right,” he said.
“We have to approach away games a little bit differently, playing at home is always more comfortable and a few of the boys have never played down there before.
“It’s going to be a tricky one against Shepparton, but hopefully we’ll be able to come away with
the win.”
