IT'S been three years since Trevor Skingle stood on the sidelines for a Shoalhaven United fixture.
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But that will all change on Saturday, March 13 when his Bears battle North Sydney United at Ison Park - in round two of this year's FFA Cup clash.
"I always wanted to come back and finishing my coaching career at United - a club where I have so many fond memories," Skingle, who coached the women's Southern Branch side in 2018 and 2019, said.
"After a couple of quick discussion with the club, things fell into place - as it felt like the right time to return.
"The blokes and the culture at the club is as good as I've seen it, which is a reflection of all the hard work Alex Dicker and the players have done over the past few years.
"Alex has all the boys playing an entertaining brand of football and my plan is to just build on that, with a few tweaks here and there."
To prepare for this FFA Cup fixture, the Bears started pre-season in late January and also had a trial match, in first and second grade, against Milton-Ulladulla.
"When I was last at the club, we were getting about 20 players to training but now close to 40 blokes are consistently turning up and working hard for 90 minutes each session," Skingle said.
"That positive feeling around the club helped us record two solid wins against Milton a couple of weeks ago.
"Although we were a little rusty, with some players still trying to work out combinations with one another, there were some really exciting signs for the year ahead."
With the majority of last year's semi-final squad (which lost 1-nil to grand finalists St Georges Basin) returning, Skingle knows where the strengths of his squad lay.
"We have a different couple of options upfront, depending on what structure we play through the middle of the park, which in my eyes is our real strength this season," he said.
"That combined with a few experienced players at the back and two solid keepers in James Spackman and Matt Ringland (from Manyana) should bode well for us in defence."
That will be out to the test on Saturday against a young North Sydney United outfit.
"Although we have a couple of players unavailable, I'm still confident in the squad we have," he said.
"North Sydney are full of young college players, so it will be up to us to match their intensity from the first whistle.
"The boys have had a good run in the FFA Cup the past few years and were a little unlucky that COVID-19 called the tournament off when it did in 2020 because I feel they had a couple more wins in them.
"Obviously we're going to try our hardest to win the match but regardless of the result, it will be a good litmus test for us to see exactly where we are ahead of next month's season kick-off."
While a win would boost their morale heading into the 2021 Shoalhaven District Football Association season, Skingle's side is taking a long-term view for the season.
"The group here has gradually been improving the past few years and our first goal is to get all three grades into semi-final football," he said.
"From there, anything can happen but there's no reason why we can't go one step further and reach the grand final.
"We have the talent here to go all the way, it's just about continuing to work hard and put us in the best position, week in, week out to get the desired result."
The FFA Cup match between United and North Sydney kicks off at 4pm on Saturday.
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