Cooks Hill coach David Tanchevski plans to use Wednesday night's Australia Cup clash with former Northern League One rivals Belmont Swansea at Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility to work on their defensive structures.
The National Premier Leagues Northern NSW (NPL NNSW) newcomers drew 0-0 with Maitland in their first top-tier outing but have leaked nine goals in two games since, losing 5-0 to Weston then 4-1 to Broadmeadow Magic.
The round-four clash of Australia Cup, formerly known as FFA Cup, will be Cooks Hill's first game in two-and-a-half weeks after their round-five NPL match was postponed then the bye last weekend.
Their next NPL NNSW game is against Lake Macquarie at Fearnley Dawes Athletics Track on April 24 and Tanchevski has been using the enforced break to tinker with his formation.
"We've been working on some defensive structure and shape and a new shape altogether," Tanchevski said. "We'll use that formation against Belswans. The last two weeks we've been training that formation so it will be good to put it into play.
"We're disappointed with the goals we've conceded. A lot of those were in the second half so we've been working on our fitness as well. We've been in games at half-time but probably our fitness has let us down that second half.
"We've been working a bit more on ball retention, trying to keep more of the ball so we're not working so hard off the ball. Hopefully this new structure that we're playing will give us more possession of the ball."
Tanchevski said experienced centre-back Jon Griffiths, who joined Cooks Hill from Magic this campaign, was playing a key role in a relatively young back line.
"We pretty much have two or three guys in the back all the time who are under 20, so having Jon Griffiths back there is really important to help with the guys' confidence and a bit of direction as well," Tanchevski said.
"Kevin Davidson hasn't been available through injury and suspension so far this year. We get him back so that will give us a bit more experience in the back line too."
Tanchevski was expecting a "tough" opponent in Belswans.
Also in Australia Cup on Wednesday night, Edgeworth play Dudley Redhead and Charlestown host Warners Bay.
On Thursday night, Mayfield United Junior Soccer Club's Zone League 2 side will make their first round-four appearance in the Cup when they play host to Broadmeadow Magic at Stevenson Park.
Mayfield Seniors are scheduled to play Adamstown at Mayfield Park on Thursday night.
