Lynch poised for Blacktown City fightback
Blacktown City defender Grant Lynch is adamant his side should not be written off this finals series despite the reigning grand final winners’ shock round one loss.
Rockdale claimed an unlikely upset against City when they won 4-2 at Lily’s Football Stadium last Sunday. The defeat added further salt into the wound for Blacktown who had missed out on claiming the Premiership only seven days prior.
However, Lynch insists it is business as usual at the club’s Seven Hills headquarters with the side determined to keep their finals campaign alive when they host Manly United FC on Saturday night.
“We’ve been talking as a team about our recent results and we really don’t feel as if we have been playing poorly,” he said.
“We are still super confident that we can beat any side in the competition and their is no doubt or panic creeping in among the boys at all.
“We are still in the final 16 of the FFA Cup and Saturday we have a chance to bounce back in the finals with our game against Manly.
“Blacktown is a club which always plays to win and despite things not going exactly as we would’ve planned we expect to get the job done in the semi-final.”
After making the move from Bankstown City Lions in the preseason, Lynch said he feels as if he has developed significantly as a player despite his short time at Blacktown City.
“When Critto (Blacktown City coach Mark Crittenden) asked me if I wanted to join City at the start of the season it was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down,” he said.
“I’ve always been a full-back but this season the coach felt I’d be able to do a job at centre back. It has been a bit of a learning curve but with players like Zach Cairncross and Matt Lewis next to you it takes a bit of the pressure off.
“I have wanted to test myself at PS4 NPL NSW Men’s top tier level and so far I have been happy with my performances so far this season.”
Lynch was confident there would be no mental scars from Blacktown’s loss to Manly in the closing rounds of the regular season and insisted his side’s drive to win would catapult them into next week’s preliminary final.
“We are really excited to play Manly again. Manly got the better of us last time and we really want to show how good we can play up against them,” he said.
“We created a lot of chances against Rockdale we just lacked a bit of clinical finishing in front of goal.
“Like always we will work hard at training this week but most importantly I think we have the players to win not just this game but the whole competition.”
