The Bay SportsMed WaiBOP Youth Team heads to Dunedin full of confidence following last weekend’s win over Heartland Wairarapa. That was a welcome return to form for the side who now face the daunting trip south with a bit less trepidation.
A run of results now will push the youth team back nearer the top four, which is where they’d like to be. Youth team coach Paul Drake was pleased with his team’s last outing. “By all accounts the boys played really well. I hope that win is the springboard for a run of results that, in all honesty, this group of players deserve,” said Drake. “It’s a tight league so any team that can string a few wins together will go shooting up the table.
“We’ve got a good group here who have played reasonably well but are still learning. Succeeding at any decent level is about consistency, so if we can take last week’s performance and improve on it this week, then we’ll be okay.”
Drake, who also doubles as the 1st team’s assistant coach, wasn’t with the team for the win over Wairarapa, as he was in Wellington with the 1st team. “It’s been a challenging summer so far, but the team’s done well and the other staff around the side [assistant Paul Probert and manager Graeme Kinney] have been first class,” he said before another busy weekend. “It’ll be incredibly tough down south, but we have to trust in our ability, take our chances and see what happens.”
The match kicks off at 1pm on Sunday in Dunedin.
