Sydenham Park Soccer Club has established itself as a team to beat this season in state league 1 north-west.
After eight rounds, Sydenham is yet to lose a game and is in fourth place on the table.
The club has had its fair share of tight finishes, with five draws coming in the first third of the season.
But with convincing wins against Moreland City (3-0), Sunbury United (4-3) and Westgate (3-1), coach Sash Becvinovski is impressed with his side’s performances.
“I’m definitely happy with the results because at the end of the day it’s a close competition,” Becvinovski said.
“I still think there were games where we should have had more smarts; we should’ve closed those games off when we had the chance.
“In saying that, I think the opposition sides have applied good pressure.”
The combination of three wins and no losses means the club is the only unbeaten team in the competition.
A big part of that success has been Sydenham’s defensive pressure, with the team conceding a miserly 11 goals.
Becvinovski praised assistant coach Alan Muscat for his work with the side’s defenders.
“I used to play as a striker back in the day and it was all about scoring goals,” he said.
“Now for me, when you are tight at the back there and you don’t concede many goals … if you can just score one that’s all you need sometimes.
“That tight defensive unit is very important to our team. Alan [Muscat] and I work on that quite a bit.”
This week, Sydenham takes on top-four side Keilor Park in a crunch game at Keilor Park Recreation Reserve.
