Coasters striving to get confidence back

COACH Jasko Ikanovic says second-placed Surf Coast FC has got to get back on its game after escaping with a 2-2 draw against 11th-placed Diamond Valley United at home last weekend.

The Coasters got the equaliser in the 75th minute through Ezekiel Hawkins in Round 12 of the State League Men’s 3 North-West competition.

“The performance wasn’t as great as I thought it could be,” Ikanovic said.

“We took it a bit easy knowing that they’re down the bottom, thinking that it’s going to just be easy walk through the park, which unfortunately it wasn’t.

“They came out to play and we were just not good enough.”

Surf Coast are second with a 7-2-2 record and they play Sebastopol Vikings, who are on the bottom of the ladder, tomorrow (Saturday, June 28) at 3pm.

“We just need to work as a team, our performance, our second-ball efforts aren’t good enough and [there’s] just a lack of communication.

“The ball movement was really slow. We just didn’t play like we usually play.”

The Coasters take on the 10th-ranked Plenty Valley Lions the following week.

“The next three games are pretty much against the bottom teams so it’s usually you want to win them, but they’re the toughest games because they’re so unpredictable,” Ikanovic said.

“You don’t know how they’re going to come out.”

After a flying start to the year, Surf Coast have had an up and down month, losing 2-0 to Epping and beating Heidelberg 4-2 before their draw with Diamond Valley.

The Coasters are chasing the carrot of being promoted again next season.