Tara Murray
Keilor Wolves will continue to take it one week at time in the FV state league 4 west season.
Having come up from state league 5 last season, the Wolves sit atop the state league 4 ladder after nine rounds, with eight wins and one loss.
Wolves coach Sofiane Soufi said they were happy with how things were playing out so far.
“So far, so good,” he said.
“We had a big win last weekend, beating Laverton, another team playing for promotion. We had a 6-2 win.
“All the boys were switched on, we want to see that every weekend.”’
Soufi said they entered the high division confident their brand of soccer could stack up, it was about adapting to the higher standard.
He said the group had done a really good job of that.
“It’s never easy going up,” he said. “It’s about adapting to the new league. “The intensity of the league is a bit tougher than last year.
“The tactics we know we are capable of doing what’s needed. The intensity we worked on in the pre-season to be ready.”
Soufi said while they were on top of the ladder, that the hard work is still to come. He said they had set the goal of wanting to be promoted for a second straight season.
The midpoint of the season will come after this week’s game.
“It’s never easy going up,” he said. “We’re not the only ones wanting to be promoted.
“We take every game like it’s the first game of the season.
“We play Spring Hills and Truganina Hornets and then it’s the half way of the season. I don’t want to get too excited and confident.
“It’s very humble to be in the position we’re in, but we won’t calculate the points until the end of the season.
“We need to do the right things week in, week out at training and at the end of the year we’ll see what rewards we get for our efforts.”
Adding to the group’s confidence was the side’s run in the knockout Australia Cup competition.
The Wolves made the fifth round and were one of the lowest ranked teams to make it that far.
“We had club history as we had never made it that far before,” he said.
“We lost to a state league 1 club, three grades above us. We lost in extra time, so it tells the boys it’s possible for us to get higher and be competitive.
“We have to just make sure we are giving everything at the end of the day.”
The Wolves defeated Spring Hills 8-0 on Saturday.
Redouane Sarakh scored a hat-trick in the win.
