WANGANUI Athletic football coach Karl Hayward has called for more passion from his players, as they look to get their season back on track against Massey 1st at Teachers College in Palmerston North today.
Athletic lost 0-2 to last year's champs Palmerston North End in their Western Premiership opener, sat out
the bye the following week and then lost 1-2 to City last Saturday.
Hayward's hoping the return of striker Sam Crossley and centre back Chris Burney will inject some spark this week, but he wants the players as a whole to step up.
"We need to start getting our attitude, and our passion, right," he says. "It's hard with so many young players but we're getting there. We had a good talk on Tuesday night and we plan to have a big training tonight and get ourselves back on track."
He said the players were "very disappointed" after the loss to City, and it was time for them to put their hands up.
However, he expected a stern challenge from Massey who traditionally have been one of the weaker sides in the league.
"But they had their first win in about four years two weeks ago and I'm sure they'll want more."
Wanganui Athletic (from): Nick Hayward, Sam Collins, Hector Hetherington, Chris Burney, Steve Burney, Shane Cuzman, Josh Tyson, Brady O'Connor, Tim Hayes, Sam Crossley, Tim Schmidt, David Downes, Fedor Luiv.
The game starts at 2.45pm. Wanganui City have the bye today.
