Newly appointed Cairnlea Soccer Club coach Peter Roberts appears to have the magic touch.
After taking over a winless Reds outfit last month, Roberts secured 10 points in his first four matches at the helm.
Cairnlea got the better of Westgate, Sunbury United and the Preston Lions, while drawing with Altona Magic, to jump from 11th to sixth place on the state league 1 table.
“I really need to give full credit to the boys,” a delighted Roberts said. “Taking over a new side, it’s quite difficult in terms of keeping everyone happy. Everyone wants to play and I would be quite disappointed if they didn’t.”
“They’ve been superb with their training and in the games of the past few weeks. We’re taking steps forward rather than sideways or backwards.”
As well as welcoming Roberts, Cairnlea managed to pull off a mid-season recruiting coup, signing Port Melbourne NPL player Tim Paton, who adds great versatility to the Reds and can spend time in either the defence or midfield.
“We’ve brought Tim in; he started his first game at the weekend and did very well,” Roberts said. “He adds a lot of experience and quality to our squad.”
While happy with his own early progress, Roberts is not letting his playing group get ahead of itself.
He says there is still plenty of work to be done as the club looks to climb back to the top four by season’s end.
Cairnlea is currently just one point behind the fourth-placed Sydenham Park.
“The goal is to get as many points as we can because we want a top-four finish,” Roberts said.
“Over the next three weeks, we want another seven points as a minimum and we really want to take some steps forward.
“There are no easy games in this league; I have realised that very, very quickly. You really need to earn your points. We have got to be on our game every week.
“I think if we can carry on the way we’ve started, we can make the top four.”
