Normally at this time of the year, the catchcry of every coach across all sports is “the group is flying” – but that is not quite the case for Ballarat City.
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The club had hoped to get 15 sessions into the group pre-Christmas, but an array of reasons from poor weather to unavailability saw only 12 sessions completed. While it may seem minor, coach Danny Gnjidic was disappointed with the amount of work his group was able to get through November and December.
Gnjidic spoke honestly about where his group was at, saying while there was nothing to be too concerned about, the group was looking to hit January hard in a bid to recourse what has been a “stop-start” pre-season ahead of the FFV National Premier League two west season.
"Not the most fluent of pre-Christmas programs,” Gnjidic said.
"It's been a bit of a stop-start period for us.
"You often hear people say at this time of year 'everyone's flying pre-season' - but I'd like us to be a little bit more advanced.”
The focus for City has been mainly on its defence.
A review of last season identified key areas to improve as a defensive unit while from an attacking front, a change in structure after winning just one match from the opening seven matches last season – scoring just six goals – proved telling.
The tweak saw City win 10 of its next 21 (five draws) and average two goals a game.
"How we defend collectively has been a focus this pre-season. And being a harder team to play against.
“We've got to be more difficult to break down and that means being more street-smart in certain situations and not letting teams play through us...(and) more of the same (offensively). It's a matter of fine-tuning that from an attacking sense and converting the opportunities we do create - which is what most teams would say – but the real focus has been defensively.”
Another defining area Gnjidic outlined was the team’s performance against the top sides. Against the top three sides NPL2 west sides, City lost all six matches, with a -15 goal differential. While against the top three sides in the east conference, a similar story – 0-3 and -8 on the goals’ tally.
The desire to improve this has been reflected in its scheduled friendly matches, looking to play quality opponents to hopefully address these areas against top-end opposition and hit the ground running come round one on February 17.
City played an intra-club match on Sunday after Melbourne Knights disappointingly pulled out late from its friendly match. City will play Port Melbourne on Saturday.