Altona North finds itself in a much better position than 12 months ago to attack the FV state league 3 north-west season.
After dropping down to state league 3 last season, Altona North went on a run late in the season to put itself in promotion contention.
Winning seven of its last eight games, Altona North ended up finishing third. It finished goal difference behind second-placed Williamstown which was promoted.
Coach Bob Stojcevski said they’d been happy with their pre-season having played a number of state league 1 and Victorian Premier League 2 sides in practice matches.
He said they’d had some really good results before changing up their line up.
This season there’s been a fair bit of stability in the side which is a long way from 12 months ago.
“We have a sound grounding,” he said. “Last year after being relegated we lost a lot of the team.
“We’ve been able to retain most of the players and top up with some quality players that we were missing.
“There’s a lot more pressure this year.”
Stojcevski said they will have a strong line up with about seven of last year’s starting 11 returning.
He said with the players that they had come in, there would be plenty of competition for spots and the starting 11 was far from settled.
“They will be a little more on edge with the strengthening of the squad,” he said of starting side.
“There’s a really good harmony in the team environment. They know each other most from last season.”
Altona North was in action this weekend in its first Australia Cup against Doveton.
It lost 5-4 on penalties after scores were locked at 1-1 after extra time. Altona North spent part of the match down to 10 men after Bobby Eftimoski got a red card.
“We are looking forward to it,” he said. “It’ll be really competitive, especially playing a higher ranked team.
“It’ll be a good test of character. I think every game we’re using to see where players are at .We’ve still got a lot of trailists.”
Stojcevski said he was always confident last season in what the team could achieve, even if the club was a little bit more conservative and saw it as a rebuilding year.
He is again determined to see the side back up the top.
“I don’t coach a side to finish third, fourth or fifth,” he said. “Last season we lost a lot of players but that gave opportunity to bring others in.
“We were able to build around the type of players that we wanted to. We gave ourselves the change to still challenge.
“The objective for me is always promotion.”
Stojcevski said things were going well with the club trying to work out facilities.
He said they were looking to have masters and a metro side as they aim to provide opportunities for more people.
