Giants take "must win" philosophy into match

Giants will be taking a "must win" philosophy into the last of their Inter-City series top six playoff men's softball matches against Cardinals at Fraser Park, Avalon tomorrow.
The plain facts are that whichever of the two sides wins this particular encounter will progress into the semi-finals, and, conversely, the loser will be down and out.
If form counts for anything and it often doesn't in games of this importance Cardinals will start favourite.
They currently sit in fourth place on the top six points table, having racked up 12 points courtesy of six wins and five losses.
Giants, on the other hand, are fifth equal on 10 points , having won five of their matches.
In terms of runs scored in Inter-City matches Cardinals also have the edge with 53 to Giant's 31 but Giants have conceded less, 39 to 41.
That the two sides will have a good understanding of each others strengths and weaknesses is guaranteed by the fact they were engaged in a Hutt Valley premier league semi-final match only last night.
The result of that game was not known at the time these notes were penned but it virtually goes without saying that it would be a huge boost to Giant's confidence were they able to win that encounter.
No matter what that result though Giants won't be taking anything for granted about tomorrow's match.
Coach Tony Nixon makes no secret of his huge respect for the skills of Cardinals in both the batting and fielding departments and knows any victory over them will be hard earned.
There has been more than one occasion this season where Giants have lost games through basic errors in the field and Nixon is especially keen for his side to produce a top-notch effort in that sphere.
"It's going to be tight and any errors in the field can make all the difference in games like this," Nixon said. "They (Cardinals) will pounce if we aren't up to scratch there, nothing is surer than that."
Nixon is keen too for power batters like Malcolm Namana, Justin Karaitiana and Gordon Wilmshurst to come up trumps for Giants.
"These guys are capable of hitting anything over the fence, having them click would be a huge help," he said.