Essendon Mazda Coach’s Comment: Battiato excited for big games to come

By Jordan Cvitkovic

Essendon Royals Senior Women’s Coach Vince Battiato is determined to prepare his side as much as possible for the upcoming challenge against Spring Hills under the lights on Friday night.

Spring Hills is the only team to have beaten the Royals in the league this season and Battiato is determined to avoid a repeat.

“I don’t believe we should have lost that game the first time around,” he said.

“But that’s football, sometimes you don’t get the win when you deserve it.”

Battiato has made it clear that he is confident, and his squad is more than capable of walking away from the game on Friday night with the three points.

He also stressed the fact that this is a huge game in the context of the season and it’s also a good opportunity to seek revenge from the last time his side faced Spring Hills where they lost 3-1.

“Since that 1-1 draw against Brunswick Zebras [the week after losing to Spring Hills], we have gone on a 7-game winning streak,” he said.

“We are a much better side since the beginning of the season.”

Battiato has a lot of praise for his side after turning around their shaky start to the season where they took four points from the first three games, and he acknowledges the amount they have improved over the course of the season so far.

”If we are able to win this game or even walk away without a loss, promotion is in our hands,” he said.

“It is an exciting feeling knowing that the chance of being promoted is potentially around the corner, but we must focus on the upcoming challenges.”

Battiato is not going to let emotion take over as he is fully aware that the league is competitive, and games can be won and lost at any time.

“It’s wonderful to be going out and winning games 9-0 as you need to do that to challenge for a title. But a game like Friday night is the sort of game we play for; these are the games we coach for and these are the games that make all the difference in a season.”