St Albans Saints are hoping they have kickstarted their National Premier League season.
After struggling to get the wins on the board, the Saints in round four came out on top against defending premiers South Melbourne, 3-0.
Saints coach Cameron Watson said the win couldn’t have come soon enough.
“I think it was something that everyone needed to just kickstart the season,” he said. “It’s a confidence builder. It shows we’ve put in the hard work the past few months in that performance.
“We didn’t get the results we wanted out of the first couple of games, as they say the monkey is off the back.”
Watson said they needed to continue to build on that performance and not allow it to be one off.
He said they saw what worked well for them and now it was a matter of doing it week in, week out.
“We know what the difference is and what makes us perform well,” he said. “Round one we played well, but conceded a few goals and played well in bits and pieces for not long enough periods in the other two matches.
“Monday night we had long periods on top and that came from everyone knowing their role and playing their role.”
Watson said there were too many good teams in the competition that they would be made to pay if they didn’t play well.
“We did that on Monday night and that is now the benchmark.”
The challenges continue for the Saints, who play Avondale on Saturday.
It is the Saints first home game of the season and something they were looking forward to.
“They are the best team in the competition,” he said. “They have not lost yet.
“It’s a different challenge and we’re looking forward to it.
“It’s our first game at home and it’s not on pitch one, but we will have that home support which we’re looking forward to.”
