Tara Murray
Gisborne is hoping to shape the top of the table in the run home in the FV state league 4 west competition.
The Sky Blues are sitting fourth after a 3-2 win against Melbourne City consolidated their spot.
While in the top part of the table, coach Danny Moore knows their hopes of promotion are all but over.
The Sky Blues are 12 points behind ladder ladders Westside Strikers, with three of the top four, including the Sky Blues, having catch up matches in the run home.
“Unfortunately that is going to be the case,” he said.
“My understanding of the way the league is set up, only the top team automatically goes up. The second team usually plays in a playoff for a chance to be promoted, but that will not be the case.
“A chance of finishing in second has been taken away from us. The other teams are too far ahead.”
Moore said while they were disappointed not to still be in the promotion race, they had been really happy with the season so far.
He said they had earned respect from other teams in the competition and shown that they were a hard team to play against.
“We’re really happy with how this year has gone,” he said. “We took a few teams by surprise.
“Teams know they will have a battle when they play us. We have given the club greater exposure and we’re working towards something.
“Hopefully we’ll have players return next season and we can attract new players. We’re heading in the right direction.
“Gisborne as a club is pushing high and wants to be in the mix for promotion and playing in higher divisions.”
Moore said the group remained positive and upbeat for the final few rounds. On top of their scheduled matches, they also have a catch up match against promotion hopeful Keilor Wolves, after last week’s match was postponed due to pitch conditions.
Moore said nothing changes for the group the next few weeks.
“The motivation is for us to knock off the top teams and still have an impact on who does and who doesn’t get promoted,” he said.
“The message to the players is that we want to finish as high as we can. It doesn’t matter what position we are on the table, we want to maintain the same standard for the whole year and have no drop off.”
Speaking before the match against Melbourne City, Moore said he was expecting the match to be a tough one.
“They’ve picked up some results in the last few weeks,” he said. “They are in the bottom half of the league.
“Pride is on the line.”
