https://www.dailymercury.com.au/news/success-on-the-road-covering-flaws/3664991/ FOOTBALL: Complacency won't go unpunished for long, a fact not lost on Magpies Crusaders United coach Chris Gallo. Despite claiming a 4-2 win against South West Queensland Thunder at the weekend, Gallo lamented his side's attitude against a team reeling with 10 men for much of the match. It was an important lesson to learn, the new mentor said, especially early in the season. MCU's upcoming clash against a winless Redlands United outfit would be a good test for their mental fortitude, Gallo said. The opposition would be ready to counter at all times, and the match-up would determine whether his troops had learnt from their mistakes. "Like I said to the players the other night, the season can be as loud or as quiet as they want to make it, but they've got to be prepared to put in the work for it,” Gallo said. "I thought the second half wasn't the best and I thought the first half was poor as well. The quietness after the game was enormous, no music on in the change rooms ... it was dead quiet. "But we need to continue to learn from these lessons and not let it go by. This weekend will be a great test mentally for them.” Pleasingly, Magpies Crusaders have played exclusively on the road in 2019, and are yet to register a loss.
After gaining only four points away from home last season, the team's three fixtures have yielded seven points, with this weekend's match also to be played on the road. This success has highlighted their depth of talent, with Gallo applauding the consistency of Nelson Burgess and tremendous work ethic of Ben Coombes. However, the coach said playing away didn't change their approach; rather, he wears the underdog tag like a badge. "I try to play on it as much as I can, because it instils the fortitude in the playing group we need,” he said. "I think that was to be seen after the result against the Thunder; we won 4-2 but that wasn't good enough. "It should give us that confidence 100 per cent, and it should give us that eagerness to get home and put on a good performance when we get here.” Defender Jacob Pace-Ruggeri said the team's transition between attack and defence would be a focus against Redlands, and their discipline needed to be better to continue reaping the rewards. "It's good to come away with the three points no doubt, but ... we don't want to be coming away from games thinking that wasn't good enough,” Pace-Ruggeri said. "Even though we have the three points in the bag ... we want to be happy with our performance because we have standards we want to live up to.”
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