Keilor Wolves are within striking distance of the promotion places in the Football Federation Victoria men’s state league 5 and will have a lot going for them in the second half of the season.
Wolves’ coach Johnny Cvetanoski will have his eyes on the prize when his fourth-placed side returns to the field on June 23 following a two week break for the Queen’s Birthday holiday and the team’s bye.
“This club has been around for about 35 years and they’ve never had a team with the quality like this one,” Cvetanoski said.
“It’s all former [Victorian] Premier League players, so it’s a team that should bring promotion to this club.
“My main focus is to get the boys promoted.
“I’m a fighter, I want to win, I want to get promotion – that’s me.”
In one sense, the break came at the wrong time for Keilor, which just inflicted an 8-2 thrashing of Melbourne Lions.
But the Wolves have endured their fair share of injuries and have been busy in the transfer market, so the extended mid-season break gives the players with niggles a chance to recuperate and the coaches will get to work integrating the new recruits into the team.
“It’s a good thing to have a two week break,” Cvetanoski said.
“We’ve had a lot of injuries to marquee players, so we’ll have four quality players coming back in the next two weeks.”
Keilor’s form has been a little up and down and it is striving for consistency.
The Wolves are seven points off top spot because of injuries to key players and some defensive frailties. They have also spent most of the season on the road as their home ground at Green Gully Reserve underwent a redevelopment.
It means the Wolves will have a favourable draw with seven of their final 10 games at home, including five in a row from rounds 13 to 17, which will be a defining period in their season.
The Wolves are not looking too far ahead though with their next assignment a crucial one away to third-placed Deakin Ducks.
“That’s a massive game,” Cvetanoski said.
“It’s a must-win for us. It’s going to be a battle to the end for us to get promoted, so we need to win these games against teams around us.”
If Keilor is to challenge for promotion, it will need to tighten up at the back.
Scoring has not been an issue for the Wolves as they rank equal third with 27 goals, with Robi Tiago and Daniel Markovski impressing up front and Daniel Angelevski providing drive from the midfield.
However, the Wolves are conceding goals more frequently than the sides above them on the ladder, so that will be a focus when they return.
