Sitting one point behind its rivals, Concordia knows anything but a victory will result in it finishing third on the ladder, as finals kick off next weekend at the Mount Isa soccer fields.

Concordia captain Jamie Stewart is confident that his team is hitting its straps at the right time of the season.

“The matches between us and Atlas are always tight, so I have no doubt that this Saturday will be no different,” he said.

“We lost 3-2 to Atlas in our last match-up but we were missing a fair few of our key players.”

“This time around, we are at full-strength and are full of confidence following a victory against league leading Parkside.”

Parkside started the season on fire, while Concordia started it slow, but Stewart says his team has turned it around through hard work.

“We had an ordinary start to the year, but after recording a few wins in the last month, our intensity and confidence has lifted,” he said.

“To sit only one victory behind Parkside on the ladder highlights how much our season has turned around.”

Stewart knows there are aspects that they still need to work on, such as shoring up defence, but says that will come.

“We are at full strength this Saturday, with both our star midfielders Billy Orsag and Jake Mawn in the line-up,” he said.

“If we can get this pair touching the ball a lot, I’m sure we will be dangerous going forward.”

“If forward Anthony Bulgarelli can continue his great form scoring goals and causing headaches with his speed, we will again look strong.”

“In terms of defence, we have been working hard at training on it and I’m hoping those boys will feed off the others energy and lift.”

Atlas A v Concordia A kicks off  at 5pm at the Mount Isa soccer fields.

■Mount Isa men’s soccer draw (August 23): 1pm: Isaroos B v Bulls; 3pm: Concordia B v International B, Parkside Rangers v Atlas B; 5pm: Atlas A v Concordia A, Parkside A v Isaroos A. BYE: Parkside B.