The building blocks are in place. And Canberra United still have the belief they can turn a crammed A-League Women's fixture into a charge to the top four.
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United return to Viking Park to play Perth Glory on Saturday - their first home game in almost a month and their last chance to breathe before they begin a gruelling schedule that includes five games in 15 days.
Ninth-placed Canberra are still chasing their first win of the season - in contrast to the Glory (fourth) who are looking for their third in a row.
While they're 11 points outside the finals spots, United goalkeeper Keeley Richards said with seven games remaining they still hadn't ruled out being part of the post-season.
"It's not ruled out. Mathematically it's definitely still an option," she said.
"We've got to get on a run in these last few games and I'm confident we can do it.
"We've got the side and we've got the players to do it, we just need to turn it around and hopefully we can start that [on Saturday]."
With COVID-enforced lockdowns and postponed games, Richards has been keeping her hands busy building a Lego replica of Viking Park - which the Viking Group has offered to buy.
But her free time is about to come to an end with United's fourth home game of the ALW season their last semblance of normality before they embark on a hectic fortnight.
While the glut of games will be a physical challenge, Richards felt it offered them a chance to get on a run.
There were promising signs in their 3-all draw away against Newcastle on Sunday.
"The start of the season has been disappointing, but we've done the training and the work so now it's just a matter of playing and recovering and playing again," Richards said.
"It is a massive schedule and we've got to go out there and play football - the rest of it's just got to take a [back] seat and we just go."
A-LEAGUE WOMEN
Saturday: Canberra United v Perth Glory at Viking Park, 5.05pm.