JOEYS United FC is due to take on Oxley Vale Attunga at the Inverell Sporting Complex on Saturday, July 11.
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The club remains five points clear of East Armidale on the top of the ladder following its losses to the Demon Knights and East Armidale in the last two rounds, and it is a position co-coach Stephen Gadd thinks the Joeys can hold on to.
“We’ve had some fairly significant injuries through our First grade players, in addition to Jackson Haussler being unavailable, so we’ve been playing a little bit under strength,” Gadd said.
“But I think that we had enough opportunities last weekend to win or come away with a better result, and even against Easts we had enough opportunities to come away with a win as well.”
Gadd said with only about five rounds left in the competition, Joeys needed to pick up some momentum before the semi-finals.
“I think it can be crucial for our chances again to secure a home semi-final, and the only way we can do that is by finishing on top of our side of the draw,” he said.
“I think it’s pretty crucial that we get some points against Oxley Vale Attunga.
“They’re going to be missing a couple of key players because of send-offs.
“They play a very physical brand of soccer and we know what to expect from them.”
Gadd said the physicality of the matches was to be expected and something Joeys would have to deal with.
“When you’re on top of the table, you’ve got to expect people to come out and try and equalise with you in whatever way they can,” he said.
“If they don’t quite have as much skill, then they will kick you.
“And we are the defending minor premiers, so we are the team to beat.”
Gadd said a couple of the teams key defenders would be back in this week including Corey Rhynne and Dominic Bush.