“Our season is on the line.”
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That’s the way Bathurst Goldminers coach Andrew Osborn sees this weekend’s double header at home against the Macarthur Heat and Blacktown Storm.
The back-to-back men's Waratah Youth League division two games at the Bathurst Indoor Sports Stadium are crucial for the Goldminers if they are to keep their shrinking finals hopes alive.
Luckily for the Goldminers they are coming up against two clubs who have struggled throughout this season, and the Bathurst side have already taken down the Heat comprehensively earlier in the year.
Anything can happen when a team has added pressure put on them in the run towards finals but Osborn is confident his team can handle it well.
“We need to win both games. It’s as simple as that,” he said.
“We trained really well on Wednesday night. We made a couple of tweaks to our offences and did some serious work on ensuring that we can stop the ball and take other players out of the equation.”
Goldminers hardly got out on second gear in their 103-69 win over the Heat back in round two, while the Bathurst men are yet to play Blacktown.
With a challenging run of games home against three clubs all sitting higher than them,Goldminers can’t afford a slip up.
“If we don’t shoot well then we’re going to struggle, and that’s something we spoke about on Wednesday night. You can’t just jack up shots, everything’s got to be right before you let the ball go,” Osborn said.
“A training session and implementing it on the court are two different things, particularly if we’re under pressure.
“That could happen against Macarthur. I don’t know much about Blacktown other than they’ve struggled against the top sides.
“I also know a couple of guys in there who went through the system at Stannies and I’ve coached them, so I know how they play and how to close them down.”
Goldminers meet the Heat on Saturday night at 6pm and return to the stadium the next day at midday to play the Storm.