Kings need to be at their best admits coach
Kings head coach Marvin Belboda has called on his side to step up and show their true worth in tonight’s Island Soccer League (ISL) quarter-final showdown with the Titans at the National Sports Centre.The teams have yet to meet in the league this season, but with so much at stake previous results would be thrown out the window.For Belboda’s men, who haven’t played their best football up until this point, this would be the perfect time to put together a total performance to advance to the semi-finals.“We had an up and down league campaign but this is the knockout phase now and it is win or go home,” said Belboda. “For the most part, the side is confident, we know we can play better than we have so far so it may all come together tonight.”Belboda pinpointed his side’s second-half performances as a reason why they had had a rough go of things, finishing third in their division with two wins and four losses.Admitting his team have yet to get to grips with the rigours of the smaller side of the game, Belboda is confident they can work out the kinks and move on to the next round.“We have put in a few good performances but it was our second half of games that has let us down, whether it be fitness or whatever, we haven’t played a full game to our best yet,” he said.“The start of games for us isn’t the problem, we are beating teams in that department but as games wear on we slow down and have to find a way to sort this out.“In the smaller sided games you see your faults more because the pitch is smaller than an full sized pitch. In 11 versus 11 you have other players that can cover for you but in this if you are caught out there isn’t any time to recover so it is important that we sort these things out.“Every team is balanced in the league so it really is a matter of who is gelling at the right time.“I am confident of getting through to the next round as long as we are able to play our game and not let the other team dictate to us late on in matches.”In tonight’s opening quarter-final match, the Union will tackle Apex at 7.30 pm, while the Kings’ clash with the Titans is scheduled for 8.45 pm.Andrew Bascome’s Storm won a penalty shoot-out over John Barry Nusum’s Arsenal in last summer’s ISL final.Storm failed to reach the quarter-finals stage of this year’s competition.