Caversham highly motivated for final

Malcolm Fleming
Malcolm Fleming
Caversham has no shortage of motivation to perform well in today’s South Island football final.

Coming off a fourth consecutive southern premier league title, the club is looking to defend its South Island crown against Mainland champion Ferrymead Bays at the Caledonian Ground.

It would be a step up from the local league for Caversham, but coach Malcolm Fleming felt his team should be able to make the adjustment.

Having lost to Cashmere Tech 2-0 earlier in the season in the Chatham Cup,  the match offered the chance of re-demption against a Mainland team.

‘‘For most of our guys they should be used to it,’’ Fleming said of the step up. ‘‘We’ve got current national league players, we’ve got past national league players, we’ve got people that have played long enough that should understand what it’s about.

‘‘We’ve got no excuses if we don’t play well. ‘‘I was disappointed with the way we played in the Chatham Cup against Cashmere Tech. ‘‘A lot of the players, they owe the club something, really, because they didn’t perform when they should have on that stage. ‘‘So therefore there will be some players that will be looking to make amends for that poor performance.

‘‘They should have never been overawed in that game, whatever the reasons were that we didn’t perform well. ‘‘This is a chance to redeem themselves, because that was a below-par performance. ‘‘So if those players are selected again, I’ll be looking for a vast improvement in their game.’’

The team was in good shape, with a full squad available.

It will be Caversham’s fourth consecutive South Island final and it will look to back up from last year’s 2-0 win over Cashmere Tech.

Fleming was expecting a tough game from a Ferrymead Bays side full of  quality players.

He had seen the team play this year and said it was a physical side which held on to the ball well, looked to take its chances and close out games.

A tough defensive team, Ferrymead had conceded just 16 goals in 21 league games this season.

However, Caversham was equally tough to score against, having conceded just 10 times in 16 league games. Fleming believed that if Caversham  stuck to its game plan it had a good chance.

‘‘I think we just need to play to our potential.’’ It had enough good players capable of scoring, and  if they stuck to the game plan ‘‘that we’ve been trying to work on all year, if they do that, we’ll be OK.

‘‘It’s a matter of making sure that everyone’s on the same page . . .’’

The players knew what they should be doing. ‘‘We’ve come up against sides this year that have caused us problems because they’ve tried to upset us and we’ve gone off our game plan, instead of trying to stay on what we should be doing.

‘‘So if we stick to what we know, we should be in the hunt.’’

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