Tara Murray
St Albans Saints hope the roadblocks that have derailed their season are out of the way in the National Premier League competition.
The Saints jumped out of the blocks as they looked to rise up the ladder, but have won just one game in the last eight games.
Saints coach Kruni Razov said things had been tough in recent weeks.
“We’ve had a lot of injuries the last six weeks,” he said.
“We hit a bit of a wall, but we had a decent result on Friday night which was positive.
“We got a couple of players back and hopefully we’ll get another two back in a week or two.
“And we’ll see what happens with what we get in the transfer window.”
Razov said their most recent match against the Bentleigh Greens was positive on two fronts. While they came away with a point in the 0-0 draw, the match was the club’s first home match under lights.
He said the players and the spectators loved having a home game under lights and were keen to have a few more next year.
On field, Razov said they were hoping to add some extra depth before the transfer window closes.
“We need someone up front who can score a few goals,” he said.
“We would also like to get another player down back.”
The Saints are sitting in 11th spot heading into the weekend’s matches.
Razov said frustrating is the best way to describe their season so far.
“We lost six games on the trot,” he said. “But we haven’t been that far away.
“Mentally we have to be switched on.”
The matches don’t get much bigger than on Friday night, with the Saints facing the Melbourne Knights in the local derby.
“It’s a big game that everyone looks forward to each year,” Razov said before the game.
“Everyone rocks up and there’s normally a couple of 1000 people at the game.”
Razov said with the side sitting in a bit of no man’s land, the aim was to win as many games as possible in the run home.
“With eight games to go, we are three games clear of the bottom two,” he said.
“We want to get rid of that [the threat of relegation] in the next three rounds and make sure we are 100 per cent safe.
“Finals, we haven’t really thought about. We would have to have to go on an unbelievable run. It’s possible, but not looking likely at this stage.”
