The Sharks clinched a 3-1 victory over Cringila at Ocean Park on Saturday in round two of the Illawarra Premier League. While pleased with the result, McGoldrick said the final scoreline didn't reflect the see-sawing battle.

"It was a very tough game. The only difference was that we created chances and put them away. Our attitude and effort is always fantastic," McGoldrick said.

"But we've still got work to do on our shape in transition when we lose the ball. We play Wollongong United next week and if they're playing the other top sides like Corrimal, they will slay us because we just can't afford to be poor in transition to defence. That's really our strength. If we don't do that right, then everything else falls apart."

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The result came a fortnight after a Toby Norval hat-trick helped Cringila seal a 4-1 win over Woonona in the Bert Bampton Cup. While pleased to atone for that loss, McGoldrick said the Lions played well on Saturday.

"They've got quality strikers in [Peter] Simonoski and Norval, and a midfielder who were dangerous every time they got the ball," he said.

"They're a very good side, I was very impressed with the way they played. As they were chasing the game, they ended up playing the ball long and putting four or five guys up front. Pleasingly, my guys tracked and marked, and not without nerves there at the end. They scored at the end, but it was off side.

"The final score didn't really reflect the evenness of the match."