A battered and bruised Edgeworth will aim for a sharper performance with the ball when they face another resolute defence in a NPL catch-up game on Wednesday night against New Lambton.
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The Eagles lost to a severely understrength Lambton Jaffas in the State Cup final on Saturday in a penalty shootout, after a goal each in extra-time. Edgeworth fielded a stronger side in comparison but they were unable to crack the young Jaffas line-up until seven minutes into extra-time. Lambton levelled via a class strike from 16-year-old Cruz Tanchevski, one of nine first-team debutants, before winning 4-2 on penalties.
Edgeworth, third in the NPL on 33 points, face their fourth game in 11 days when they take on ninth-placed New Lambton (14) at Jack McLaughlan Oval (8pm). The Golden Eagles are five points clear of the relegation zone with five games to go.
Coach Shane Pryce has turned New Lambton into a far better defensive side this year and they have conceded 30 goals in 17 games, compared to 61 in 22 in 2023.
Eagles coach Peter McGuinness expected another test for his attack.
"I'm sure [Pryce] will have them organised, that's for sure," McGuinness said.
"They are capable and they will look at what happened on the weekend and go, well that can happen.
"Jaffas were hard to break down. We had a hell of a lot of the ball and had a really good opportunity to go two up in extra-time but didn't take it. They had a very young team, with some senior boys among them, but they obviously set up to defend and they did it well.
"But we were a bit slow with our ball movement to be honest.
"We are still a bit bruised with knocks from Wednesday's game against Charlestown, then having to back on Saturday, and we're backing up again. There's soreness and a few little niggles, and Flynn Goodman and Benny Conway are still away."
He said Andrew Pawiak and Aaron Oppedisano would return but Chris Fayers and Joey Melmeth were in doubt.
Pryce said most of his squad were available after they had last weekend off, but they would need to improve from their most recent outing - a 3-0 loss to Weston.
"With the talent they have in their squad, they would obviously be eyeing off the top three, so we are going to have to be at our best to get something out of it," Pryce said of Edgeworth.
"I was disappointed with our intent against Weston. It was a down game for us and I think we'll need to be a lot better than that."
As well as the five-point gap on 11th-placed Adamstown, New Lambton have a game in hand and Pryce they said they needed to make it count. The team finishing 11th faces play-offs to stay in the NPL for 2025.
"While it's still mathematical, I'm not saying anything is done and dusted yet," he said.
"Football can come back to bite you if you take something for granted. We definitely need to still pick up points, stay in games and fight right to the end, because who knows, it might come down to the last game.
"That's what I'm saying to the players. You don't want to get to Magic last game of the year needing a point."
