Sardo: We need to be at our best

Getting three points on the board is therefore now imperative for coach Thierry Sardo and he has fortunately not had to wait long to get that opportunity again.
Mont-Dore host Tahitian counterparts Tefana in Noumea tomorrow in a fixture that arrives a week earlier than the other second round O-League clashes as Tefana have a Coupe de France fixture to fulfill against French side Red Star next weekend.
Sporting contests between teams from New Caledonia and Tahiti, two French territories with a traditional rivalry, are usually fiercely contested and Sardo has warned his players they will need to be at their best to achieve the desired outcome.
“The players are very motivated and focused as this is a very important game,” Sardo says.
“It is our first game at home so we need to make sure we do not lose the three points. It will make it hard for us for the rest of the competition if we do not win. But Tefana will come to win as well so we will have to play at 100 per cent.”
Despite that disappointing opening day loss, Sardo has resisted the urge to make any changes to his match day squad and, as there are no injuries to report either, will go into the Tefana clash with the same set of players.
Conditions at the splendid Stade Numa Daly, arguably the finest stadium in the O-League, should be much more to Mont-Dore’s liking than they were in Ba, where the visitors struggled to adapt to the baking hot temperatures.
The club’s first appearance in the O-League since 2007 began brightly when midfielder Jose Hmae gave his side the lead in the 33rd minute and it was an advantage Mont-Dore held until just past the hour mark when Ba fullback Avinesh Suwamy provided the equaliser. The same player then struck again eight minutes from time to make Mont-Dore’s O-League return a losing one.
His charges’ reduced level of performance in the second spell is likely to have come as no surprise to Sardo as they had played only one match in the new domestic season prior to the Ba encounter.
But such an excuse will not carry as much weight this weekend as the team has played a further two games since then and should therefore be much closer to the required match fitness.
Tefana are coming off the back of a 10-0 loss to Waitakere United, the highest ever winning margin in the history of the O-League, but restored some confidence with a 6-0 win over Punaruu in their domestic competition last weekend.
Anything less than three points would still be a major disappointment to Sardo though and he is aiming to set his side up to be hard to beat.
“We will play a more defensive game and look to break forward on the counter attack. We hope our individual qualities will be enough to make the difference,” he says.