Shellharbour coach Rod Williams says his team have embraced the underdog tag as they prepare to face Illawarra Premier League giants Wollongong United in an Australia Cup clash on Tuesday night.
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The District League outfit will travel to United's fortress, Macedonia Park, for the Cup's round three fixture of the NSW draw.
It shapes as a battle of David versus Goliath on paper, with United looking to spark a similar run to last year's Cup, where they made it to the national round of 32 before falling to Victorian NPL giants Green Gully.
However, for Williams and his side, Tuesday night's match offers an opportunity to cause a major upset.
Williams said Shellharbour had an ideal preparation heading into the fixture.
"We're taking it one step at a time. In the (District League competition), we had one hiccup against Fernhill, which I wasn't too happy about, but we returned to our winning ways against Warilla on the weekend," he said.
"But I particularly want to thank my assistant Yani Sekuloski for the work he's put in. He does so much work at the club and he sometimes doesn't get the recognition that he deserves."
While happy with how his side is travelling, Williams said they would be underdogs against United.
"They made the round of 32 in the Cup last year, which is a great effort from any club, let alone an Illawarra Premier League side," he said.
"They're a great side on paper and have a lot of good players. They're a good all-round side and, let's be fair, they've got to be favourites considering the last Cup run they've been on and that they're an Illawarra powerhouse.
"I have no illusions about that, especially on their ground. But we'll give a good account of ourselves."
For United, Tuesday's match offers an opportunity to build on their 1-0 win over Tarrawanna on Saturday.
Jayden Mawkowski's goal five minutes from halftime proved the difference at Macedonia Park, with the result coming on the back of a 2-2 draw with Helensburgh and a 1-0 loss to Bulli loss to open their 2023 Premier League account.
United coach Billy Tsovolos said some positives emerged from that win, but there was still room for improvement.
"There's quite a few things that we need to work on at the moment, and that's the main focus going into Tuesday's game. We just want to improve on a couple of aspects we're struggling with at the moment," he said.
"But Shellharbour are obviously doing some good things in District League, so it won't be an easy game. We know quite a few of the boys there, you can pretty much go through their whole team and they've either played in the Premier League or played in the NPL up in Sydney.
"We've definitely got to show them respect on Tuesday night."
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Joshua Bartlett
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
