Streaking Gunnedah target top spot ahead of Moree matches

Last Saturday, Gunnedah's First and Reserve Grade teams both got up over Narrabri FC, 2-1 and 1-0 respectively.

The results came as a relief to coach Andy Cygan, particularly after the club lost several key players prior to the start of the season.

Now, both teams have begun elbowing their way toward the top of the ladder, and Cygan is confident the club will be competitive in 2022.

"It looks like First Grade is second, it's now the ideal thing to try and stay first or second and get that second shot at a grand final, or a home final," Cygan said.

"Reserve Grade, if they can manage to make top four in the first year of being mainly 15, 16-year-olds and a mixture of guys and girls, that'd be a great achievement."

A key factor in the teams' resurgence of late has been the explosion in their numbers.

During the pre-season, Cygan was worried that they would have as few as 16 players available each week. But now, nearly a month into the competition, they have 32 registered thanks to some good word-of-mouth reviews from their younger players, and are often in danger of leaving people out.

Their recent wins, Cygan said, are a result of their large squad beginning to gel on the field.

"We have a few new faces, and it's always going to take a while," he said.

"We're only training once a week as well, which doesn't really help. That was just to make it easier for people but because we're only training once per week, it's going to take a bit longer to get to where we need to be.

"But we were pretty happy [with the wins on the weekend]."

This Saturday, Cygan believes the club has a decent chance of making it three wins from three with scheduled matches against Moree Services FC in Moree.

However, despite a losing record to this point in the season, Moree does have a track record of producing much stronger performances at home.

"From previous experience with Moree, back when I played for United, they tend to have good numbers at home," Cygan said.

"They could easily have a good team."

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