EFL 2019: South Croydon falls to 0-3 after ‘terrible start’ to Eastern Football League season
South Croydon is staring down the barrel of missing Eastern Football League finals after a winless start to the season.
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Premiers in 2017 and grand finalists last year, South Croydon is staring down the barrel of missing Eastern Football League finals after a winless start to the season.
The Bulldogs are 0-3 after the Anzac Day defeat against Blackburn and will need to overcome the odds if they are to make the top five in 2019.
South Croydon was left to rue conceding six red-time goals that allowed the Burners to take a 13.14 (92) to 12.6 (78) victory.
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Blackburn kicked the last two goals of the game at Cheong Park to move to a 3-0 record, setting up a mouth-watering contest against Vermont this week.
South Croydon coach Luke McCormick said his side needed to be “harder for longer” if it’s to turnaround a sinking season.
“It basically comes down to workrate and you can see our boys working really hard but probably not hard enough for long enough,” McCormick said.
“Most of our numbers we wanted we hit — (gave away a) few silly free kicks, probably in our overzealousness to want to go hard at the contest.”
McCormick said it had been a “terrible start” to the year for his side.
Only twice (Norwood in 2010 and Knox in 2011) has a top-tier side made finals after dropping its first three games since the EFL went to a top-five system in 2007.
McCormick acknowledged it would be difficult for the Bulldogs to make finals.
“More so this year because the comp is so even. It’s so much stronger,” he said.
“There’s not those games you half-pencil in as a win. The good thing is we can almost get ourselves back to where we were last year but it’s going to be hard.
“As I said to them after the game, we’ve shown we’ve got the side that can match it … the good thing is we’re now in a position where our backs are against the wall so you just throw everything at it.”
South Croydon meets Norwood, North Ringwood and Noble Park in the next three weeks.
“Three winnable games in the next three weeks — it’s still hard, every team is hard but the goal is to turn 3-3,” he said.
“The positives (are) we’re hitting a lot of the numbers we want to hit, it’s about making the right decisions with the footy, which is something you can turn around and effort and intensity for longer in games.
“We’re letting sides get late goals, which really hurt. They got three goals from silly free kicks as well so when you’re not winning you want to try harder and sometimes you give away free kicks.”
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