The men in green and white surrendered their lead on numerous occasions with Sawtell's young side proving too strong of an attacking force, clawing their way back from 1-0 and 2-1 down to eventually slot a winner with two minutes remaining, the match finishing 4-3 in Sawtell's favour.

Saints coach Kevin Sinclair said the result reflected a lack of contact training and the quality of their opposition.

"It's the price you pay for not enough football, a lack of contact training definitely had an impact," he told the Argus.

"Sawtell are a pretty strong side so it definitely wasn't the team you want to play first up."

Sinclair added that Boambee FC could be just as strong as Sawtell.

"In the last few years they've been a very successful team - we've played them in plenty of trials before and they're a really quality side so we'll have to be on our game," he said.

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With four goals conceded on the weekend, Sinclair believes defence will be their main objective and is confident his side can turn it around and be competitive.

"Conceding four goals is just simply not on, we showed we can score goals but need to ensure we minimise our mistakes," he explained.

"Defensive structure, communication and doing the simple things right will keep us competitive and give us every chance of success on the weekend.

Throughout the first and reserve grade sides for Saints, various players are playing two games in two days with U'18's played on Friday night.

Sinclair is delighted that his club is providing a pathway for their juniors to play senior football and keep improving.

"Across both grades we've got players playing on the Friday night - we're working well with that and giving them plenty of opportunities," he said.

"Whilst we lose out on some experience they offer our club and teams plenty of enthusiasm so we make up for that."

Kick off for first grade will be at 3pm, Eden Street Sporting Fields Field 1.