Orana Spurs hope to deliver a wake up call to the Dubbo and District Football Association’s top guns when they take on the undefeated Macquarie United on Sunday.
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The Spurs sit third on the competition ladder after six rounds and suffered a 3-0 loss to the 2017 champions when they met in April.
But since then they’ve had convincing wins over Wellington Warriors (5-2) and South Dubbo Wanderers (4-2), before a 4-4 draw with 2017 minor premiers Dubbo FC in round four.
They have yet to announce their team for Sunday, but captain Bailey Delaney said it would be “a decent side on the pitch”.
“We’ve got the side to do it [beat Macquarie], it’s just whether we can stay out of the niggly stuff during the game and play how we’ve been training the last five weeks,” he said.
“They’re just a bunch of older guys who are really smart footballers. They may not be the quickest or the fittest but they have their heads switched on.
“We’re doing good things … we’ve had some close games with good sides, we just need to work on our first 20 minutes.”
Duncan Ferguson and forward Angus Cusack are set to be key figures for the Spurs, but they will be missing centre back Luke Riley, who is out for the rest of the season with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear.
“But there’s plenty of other blokes to jump up into the squad,” Delaney said.
The long weekend was a good opportunity to rest other injuries, he said, while some solid training sessions will be a “good lead up” to Sunday’s showdown.
“One [goal for 2018] is to take at least that second spot and then just show the big teams that we are a decent side and we’ll give them a run for their money.”
The game kicks off at 3pm.