LIAM Harding has been at the Ballarat Red Devils for the past four years since arriving from Ireland and believes that the current team is without doubt the best he has seen.
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Sitting in second place on the National Premier Leagues Victoria 1 west table with three matches left remaining in the season, Harding says that he is loving playing for the McDonald’s Red Devils and living in Ballarat.
“My brother Sean came out to Ballarat in early February 2012 and called me up in Ireland and said that I should come out. So I did and have loved every minute of it,” Harding said.
Both the Harding boys were born in the Melbourne beachside suburb of Mordialloc and went back to Dublin six months later.
The hard-nosed centre midfielder has enjoyed some some stellar recent form and has been important in the Reds’ run of form, which has them unbeaten from the past 10 games.
“I think the team as a whole is playing really well, to be honest. I am just trying my best to do a job for the team. We are doing well, but have a really tough few matches left in the year to finish,” he said.
After a slow start to the campaign with injury, Harding has developed a great understanding with Shaun Romein in the engine room of the team and this has been a catalyst for the Reds being right in the play-off mix.
“It is up to us. We win every match and we can’t lose second spot and will be in the play-offs. It really is as simple as that. We don’t have to rely on anybody getting a result for us or doing us a favour. It is all up to us,” Harding said.
This weekend, the Reds travel to take on Box Hill United, which is sitting fourth on the NPLV1 east table with 42 points. Box Hill has won 13 matches - the same amount as Ballarat – and is coming off the back of an excellent 2-1 victory over third-placed Kingston City on Saturday.
Harding, who has played 75 matches for Ballarat and scored five goals, knows that winning on Saturday is a must.
“It’s a huge match this week up against Box Hill,” he said.
“We have never played them or ever been to Wembley Park (the home stadium of Box Hill) so it will be something a little different for all the boys. But we are in good form and don’t fear anybody home or away. We need to keep winning to stay in the play-off race.”
Harding believes doing extra training during the week by himself has helped over the past few months.
“You have to play well every match to keep your spot. Everybody in the team is playing well and there are others that are on the bench or not in the squad wanting to play, so you have to be doing well,” he said.
