WOMEN'S NSW PREMIER LEAGUE
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Stingrays coach Graham Shaw is hoping his side can ride a wave of confidence from Sunday's 4-2 win over Northbridge into two do-or-die league fixtures in the next week.
Illawarra meet Football NSW Institute on Thursday night before playing Sydney University on Sunday afternoon.
Both sides sit above them on the competition ladder and are in a race for the last two finals spots with four matches remaining in the season.
A win in both matches would see the Stingrays right back in contention for a post-season place after the club picked up three points at the weekend.
"You want to go into your next game knowing you have got a win to give you that little bit of confidence," Shaw said.
"It is going to be a tough one come Thursday night but NSW lost their last game against University.
"We will have lots of confidence coming in knowing that we have most of our squad available."
While most of the squad will be available for the midweek fixture, Illawarra are likely to be without regular centre-back Daila Tais-Borg for the remainder of the year.
Tais-Borg will head back to South Australia to take up her position at Adelaide United in the W-League squad for the next campaign.
The W-League season will start earlier this year on September 13 to accommodate the men's Asian Cup in January.
But the Stingrays ensured that their W-League defender did leave the Illawarra a winner when they easily dispatched Northbridge last weekend, rocketing out to a four-goal lead before eventually running out 4-2 winners.
Jordan Baker continued her red-hot form in front of goal with a first half hat-trick. The young striker twice finished after cutting inside from the left before scoring with her head to round out the treble.
Michelle Carney completed the scoring for the Stingrays with a goal of her own in the second half, before Linda Carroll and Carly Ussher nabbed goals for the home side.
"We looked comfortable at 4-0 but maybe switched off for five or ten minutes in that second half," Shaw said.