Southern can claw its way off the bottom of the premiership ladder if it beats Tasman in Nelson today and Hawke’s Bay United beats Hamilton Wanderers.
But regardless of its final position, Southern United has just three wins from 17 games and does not have a lot to show for a roster heavily influenced by players who are not eligible for the All Whites.
O’Reilly, who is one year into a two-year contract, said he realised it was going to be a big challenge to help lift the performance of Southern United. The team has struggled to compete in the league and the season goal was to finish above the bottom two places.
That aim is unattainable but it can still avoid the horror of last place.
"I knew it was going to be a massive task when I took it on," O’Reilly said.
"The difficulties are obviously the player pool. We are not a massive region so the player pool is not huge."
O’Reilly is keen to help lift that standard of club football in the region and improve the pool of quality players he can draw on. But bringing in so many overseas players also blocked a crucial development pathway.
It is a difficult balance, though, because Southern needed an injection of talent to compete. And while there has not been a lot of wins, O’Reilly said he had seen improvements in the standard of play. The imports added value, other than just their ability on the field, through coaching and the experience they bring to the region.
"I’ve said all along if we have two players of equal ability, we’re going to play the local player.
"But I think they’ve been huge value, you know."
O’Reilly said people who had watched Southern United over the years recognised the progress the team has made.Southern has lost its last six matches but the last time it had a long losing streak, it snapped it with a 3-1 win against Tasman in Mosgiel before Christmas.
"We are feeling confident. We beat Tasman in the pre-season, as well as in the first round of games. We’ve got to hope to do the same again. Absolutely confident we can go up there and get the result."
National Premiership
Sthrn Utd v Tasman, Nelson, 1pm
Southern United: Josh Dijkstra, Ross Howard, Danny Ledwith, Conor O’Keeffe, Stephen Last, Harley Rodeka, Michael Hogan, Andrew Ridden, Eric Molloy, Andy Mulligan, Danny Furlong, Sam Cosgrave, Ben O’Farrell, Tom Stevens, Ben Wade.
Tasman (from): Coey Turipa, Tom Fawdry, Paul Ifill, Ermal Hajdari, Cameron Lindsay, Tyrrell Barringer-Tahiri, Bertie Fish, Alex Ridsdale, Scott Gannon, Ryan Stewart, Sammy Ayers, Jordan Swaney, Daniel Allan, Nick Smith, Dylan Burns, James Hoyt, David Maisey, Marcel Kampman, Mark Johnston, Matt Tod-Smith, Nicolas Abot, Robbie Pearson, Tinashe Marowa, Labu Pan.
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Comments
Southern has done the right thing in bringing in the Irish players and in also making them regional development coaches. We have got to stop good players leaving and heading north. So we have to get good northern players to come down here. But also there needs to be more local support.