Lalor United continues to hold the chasing pack at bay in the FV state league 2 north-west competition.
With four rounds remaining, Lalor United sits atop the table with Altona East Phoenix just one point behind.
Uni Hill Eagles are also in the top two mix, while Whittlesea Ranges would need everything to go their way. The top two teams will be promoted.
Lalor’s Tony Josevski said they know what they need to do in the last few rounds.
“We’re in a good spot, but it’s really tough with the top three teams close,” he said. “The top two there’s one point the difference.
“It’s two and half games to third, we’re still a bit nervous. We’re tracking along OK.
“We’re looking to have promotion this year and hopefully another one next year.”
Josevski said a lot of hard work had been done in the off season with a new committee in charge.
They’ve looked to continue to build the culture with Thursday night team dinners and getting all the teams together.
He said that was showing on field as well with how close the group is.
It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for Lalor with a coaching change throughout the season.
The club’s junior technical director has stepped up to lead the senior side.
“He had been around quite a bit and the boys were undeterred in the way they played,” Josevski said.
“It wasn’t seamless but it has worked well.”
Lalor added another win to the tally on Saturday, accounting for Albion Rovers, 3-0.
Josevski said it won’t be easy on the run home.
“We have a couple of tough games coming up,” he said before the weekend. “Albion is a good side and we’ve got Altona East.
“If we get past those two we will get promoted.”
While the club’s focus is on promotion, they would be happy to achieve just that, Josevski said they wouldn’t be 100 per cent happy with anything less than a promotion.
The club has been taking some big steps off field as well with the juniors working out with the senior teams.
Josevski said they wanted to ensure that they had strong junior sides that would flow into their senior teams so they don’t have to look for players every year.
“A lot has changed and we have some great working volunteers,” he said. “They’re putting in a lot of time and are quite passionate and we’re happy with how we are tracking.”
In other state league 2 north-west results, Whittlesea Ranges lost to Williamstown 2-1, Craigieburn City lost to Altona East Phoenix 4-0 and Dallas City lost to Strathmore.
