Defending A-League champions Central Coast may not be winning their recent battles but coach Phil Moss feels they're winning the war.
The Mariners have lost three consecutive games for the first time since December 2009 and head into their match against Wellington on Friday desperately looking for three points to stay in the top six.
But Moss, who has endured several changes at the club and lost key players to either injury or transfers since taking the top job, says he's focussed on the bigger picture.
"It's never nice to lose games especially three on the trot," he said on Thursday.
"But we're working towards an end goal and we've got a wholistic plan in place for the club. It's a rebuilding year.
"I think we're going in the right direction regardless of the results."
A loss at Bluetongue Stadium on Friday could cause the Mariners to slip out of the top six for the first time this season with only seven more games remaining to secure a finals spot.
And Moss knows if they're any chance of getting a win they need to start finding the back of the net.
"The execution in the final third is hurting us but it's also the build up, we're forcing passes where we shouldn't and giving away cheap possession in the last three weeks," he said.
"So that's something you've got to work on because you can't create or score goals without the ball."
Moss will be missing a raft of players however with Josh Rose, Matt Simon and Nick Fitzgerald all suspended for accrual of yellow cards, while Brent Griffiths also sits out the game thanks to a sending off in the National Youth League last weekend.
But Moss even saw the bright side in this saying it will be to his benefit with the Mariners' hectic schedule about to commence when they kick off their Asian Champions League campaign next week.
"I'm not too worried about that to be honest because of the Asian games coming up and the trip to Korea I was always going to have to rest players and rotate them," he said.
"The suspensions have forced my hand on who that's going to be but that will certainly pay off down the track I have no doubt."
Moss has confirmed new Korean playmaker Kim Seung-Yong will make his start after debuting off the bench against Adelaide last week.
Wellington will be desperately looking to rebound from their shock 5-0 dismantling to Melbourne Heart last week.
And Ernie Merrick has a classy playmaker of his own in Carlos Hernandez, with the Costa Rican having a hand in more goals than any other A-League player this season having scored five and had eight assists.
