By Arian Odza
Kilsyth have secured their first win of the 2021 Division Four season with a buoyant performance against the lowly Croydon North MLOC KangaRams as the Cougars look to towards the Cougar off this weekend against Coldstream.
The emphatic 104-point win has placed the Cougars first on the ladder with a significant percentage of 552.17, a long way from their seventh-place finish in 2019.
The confident style of attacking football and well organised defensive structures of the Cougars kept the KangaRams at bay, allowing only three goals for the entire game. This performance represented the hard work that has been put in by the Cougars over the pre-season and time off during the 2020 season.
The Cougar’s finished the 2019 season with only three wins and a big focus was placed on their ability to recruit crucial players over the pre-season, which in turn has aided the Cougar’s performance in a positive manner where attack and defence has seen a drastic improvement, albeit from a very small sample size.
Significant efforts from Ryan Goodinson, who delivered a six-goal haul against Croydon North MLOC along with Jarrad Arthur and Declan Lamb each booting three, represents the attacking style of football that the Cougars have created over the pre-season.
Senior Coach, Simon Caldwell, explains that the improvement is largely due to the recruitment over the pre-season.
“There was ten first year senior players, which was something the club has not been able to do for a long time, that’s probably one of the most exciting things to start with,”
“The players we had stayed loyal, there was nothing stopping them from moving up to a higher division, they’re really talented.”
With regards to the attacking style of football that has been implemented within the game style, Caldwell stated, “Look, we do want to attack, being young we want to try to increase pressure to attack,”
“We want to have that quick style of movement, which was really good in a pre-season match against a third division side in Whitehorse, where we only sort of lost by a goal,”
Caldwell says that the defence has improved as well, stating, “The defence was fantastic, we kept them scoreless for the first half which is a really good effort and I think four out of our starting six were first year senior players so to be able to hold up is good.”
Caldwell continued to state that the upcoming game against Coldstream will represent where the club is.
“This week we’re up for a challenge, the flag favourite and their probably going to be the benchmark, but we’re going in with no expectations and we are excited, the kids are up for the challenge and we play them three times this year so it is good to know where we’re at and learn each time no matter the result.”
The positive start to the season for the Cougars should instil a confidence within the team that was essentially unattainable throughout the 2019 season.
However, the new blood and attacking game style should represent the strides the club has achieved in the hard work over the pre season.
The emphasis of recruitment by Caldwell and game style shown in Round One of the season exemplifies the improvement of the Cougars, and what was achieved throughout the pre-season.