The results might be deceiving so far for Southern United.
After four games the team remains at the bottom of the national football league, with just one point to show for its efforts.
At first glance that may point to the start of another disappointing season.
However, it is worth noting three of those four games have come against teams in the top four. Having earned a draw against Waitakere United and made Auckland City work for a 1-0 win, things look to be heading in the right direction.
However, the situation does not get any easier as Southern travels to Auckland to play the second-placed Eastern Suburbs at Bill McKinlay Park on Sunday.
"Obviously the results have not been as positive as we would have liked but we’re happy with how the club is progressing," coach Paul O’Reilly said.
"The lads have been working really hard now for eight weeks, when you include the pre-season. We’re confident that the results will come.
"I think the last couple of performances in particular, the 2-2 draw against Waitakere and coming close only losing to an 85th minute goal against Auckland City, shows how much progress the club has made.
"In previous years we’ve struggled to contain those teams and this year it looks like we’re extremely competitive against them."
Eastern Suburbs posed another challenge, having won three of its four games, including a 1-0 victory over fellow top four team Waitakere United last weekend. O’Reilly expected them to use a 4-2-3-1 formation and threaten through the middle of the park.
"We’re confident we know how they’re going to play. They’ve got quality, they’ve got really good players on their team. It’s not going to be an easy task. It’s up in Auckland, it’s a long day of travel.
"They’ve got some real quality around the middle of the park and they look like they’ve got goals in them as well. They’ve tried to play in the opposition half as much as possible, so if we can nullify that and put them under a little bit of pressure higher up the park, like we did last week against Auckland, we’re hopeful we might get some joy from that."
Irish striker Eric Molloy returns from injury for Southern, although he was unlikely to start, while youngster Ben O’Farrell is back available for selection. That is good news for the team, which O’Reilly said remains in good spirits and is not far away from its first win.
"Over the next four or five games hopefully we can pick up some wins and that will be just reward for all the hard work.
"The players have been doing extremely well. They’ve been training four or five sessions a week. Physically they’re in good shape and their game understanding is improving every week."
The match begins at 4.35pm and will be televised live on Sky Sport.
Southern United v Eastern Suburbs
Bill McKinlay Park, tomorrow, 4.35pm
Southern United: Liam Little, Ross Howard, Craig Ferguson, Cam Higgins, Stephen Last, Danny Ledwith, Conor O’Keeffe, Ben O’Farrell, Andy Mulligan, Sam Collier, Tennessee Kinghorn, Cam McPhail, Sam Cosgrave, Eric Molloy, Luis Paiva.
Eastern Suburbs: (from) Josh Dijkstra, Hayden Johns, Finn Cochran, Ross Haviland, Luke Adams, Mario Ilich, Tim Payne, Moses Dyer, Sean Lovemore, Sam Burfoot, Armin Pasagic, Silvio Rodic, Jordan Vale, Andrew Blake, Osita Chikere, Anthony Hobbs, Tristan Prattley, Derek Tieku, Calvin Opperman, Zac Speedy, Emmanuel Ekpo, Fabien Kurimata.
