Essendon Mazda Coach’s Comment: Ferrante seeking consistency
Only two weeks ago the Essendon Royals were dealt a harsh wake-up call on the realities of playing in State League 1 North-West and according to coach Mick Ferrante, it has reignited the fire in the belly of his team.
The Royals responded to a shock loss to Corio with significantly improved performances against Avondale FC in the Australia Cup and FC Clifton Hill over the last ten days, considerably upping the intensity of their performances as they try and get their season back on track.
Inconsistency thus far this season has left the Royals with a bit of work to do in the league to make up the ground on the teams ahead of them in the league. Still, Ferrante said the performances over the last week – particularly that which delivered a 3-0 win over Clifton Hill last Saturday – need to continue.
“A few results went our way last weekend, but if we go back to being inconsistent, then that won’t matter,” he said.
“Our performance on Saturday was very positive. As a unit, we were very good defensively and we matched that with high intensity going forward for a pretty dominant performance.
“In the end, 3-0 was probably a bit flattering for them in terms of the number of chances we made, but for me, it was more the fact that defensively we never really gave them a sniff.”
Ferrante said the return of key players from injuries and suspension was also fueling a greater sense of urgency from players on matchday and at training with spots in the starting XI set to become harder to nail down.
“The fuller the squad gets, the more you see that intensity at training,” he said.
“Everyone realises the more numbers there are, the harder it is to get in and stay where you want to be in the starting line-up, so we had two really good nights of training this week.”
Maintaining that intensity will be key when Keilor Park Soccer Club comes to town on Friday night at Cross Keys Reserve.
Keilor has proven they can match it with the best in the competition, as they demonstrated last Saturday night holding George Cross to a 2-2 draw.
As a player, Ferrante has had a number of tough battles with Keilor since returning to his junior club, and he has factored that into his preparations as a coach.
“Last year, we had our challenging moments against them both home and away,” he said.
“I respect Keilor Park as an opponent and it’s no different to the rest of the teams in this league. I’ve said in these interviews just about every week, if you’re not up to win the battle first then it’s going to be very hard to get the results you want.”