They were tipped to be relegated this season, but West Canberra Wanderers surged to the top of the league on Saturday with a stirring 3-2 win over ladder leaders Canberra Olympic at Melrose.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The unfancied Wanderers staged a gripping comeback to notch their third win from four matches and continue their unexpected strong start to the National Premier League.
But coach Ulisses Da Silva was refusing to get carried away with his side's early season form, which has propelled them to top spot after four rounds.
"We are quite realistic about the season and it's only round four so we will just continue to take it one game at a time," Da Silva said.
"The main focus for us is to continue to keep building that self confidence and trust, as well as our team unity. Our strength is our culture and in the environment that we have created."
Olympic coach Rob Cattanach has also been delighted with his side's fast start to the year, but said Saturday's performance was down on recent weeks.
"I wasn't overly thrilled, there were some okay individual performances but as far as playing to your potential goes I don't think too many boys did that today" Cattanach said.
"There were a couple but you can't have two or three boys putting in and the rest having an off day.
"Today we were beaten but we would be very comfortable playing them again."
MORE CANBERRA SPORT
Despite the loss, Cattanach remained upbeat about his side's early form which had yielded two wins and a draw prior to Saturday.
"I've got probably 16 or 17 hungry kids who are willing to work hard for their opportunity in first grade and I think that's really showing in our performances at the moment," Cattanach said.
"Regardless of how we go I think every week we will be hard to beat, we'll see how we end up at the end of the year. We're not getting too carried away with our start to the season because we have got a long way to go with a young team.
"We haven't seen anything that has overwhelmed us in the league yet so that's a positive."