What a great win on Sunday evening at Oxpens and it was nothing more than the boys deserved. I had a good feeling going into the game, right from the pre game meetings to the warm up, we just looked ready and up for the game.
Invicta were on a great run and in the pre game meetings were about sticking to our systems of play and being aware of the offensive threat that Invicta pose with their juggernaut of an offence.
The final message was that we can talk about the X's and O's as much as we want, but if you don't compete you get nothing in this game, so our ability to not get outworked was the main focus right from the get go.
I think we got that for sure, the boys worked their tales off and that was reflected in the scoreline and we were pretty dominant for the whole 60 minutes. I think at times this season we have always had a bad period that kills us, for whatever reason, and in a tight game that can come back and haunt you, but it's fair to say apart from the Solent home game, that we lost in OT, it was probably our best complete game of the season.
The guys wanted to prove as a group that they were capable of competing and beating the best teams in this league, and to be fair they have been competitive for most of the games this season, without getting the results at times. Invicta are one of the best and one of the form teams right now and that's massive credit to Karl Lennon and his players for the work they are doing, so it was really nice for my boys to prove that on their day they can beat anyone.
February was always going to be a crucial month in our season where we always looked at it as one we need to take points from, especially with the way our form has been prior to Christmas. We are totally smashing this month out of the park and I wanted to get a minimum of 8 points from the games and that's what we have achieved with 2 games left in the month, both against Raiders NIHL1.
It is important that we finish the month strong and this weekends home and away series with Raiders NIHL1 is massive. If we can win both games it will put us into 6th spot in the league and we will then be looking to move into 5th before the end of the season. I think it's always important to set high standards and goals and why not shoot for the Stars (no pun intended)
The boys are buzzing right now and it was important to enjoy the win on Sunday, but even more important as we head into practice on Wednesday is to forget about the Invicta win now and focus on our preparations for the two huge upcoming games.
As a group we need to use our new found form and momentum to continue our rise up the standings and finish as high as we can. It will the be important to head into the play offs in good form and who knows what can happen in two legged games and right now I fancy our chances against anybody.
Go Stars Go!!!