Highlands United will face their toughest test of the season when they take on undefeated competition leaders Bulli at Renwick tomorrow.
Bulli have all but sewn up top spot in the Illawarra Conference League with five rounds to go with the side yet to lose a game this season.
The former Premier League club has won 10 and drawn four of its 14 games this season for 43 points, with a four-point buffer to Woonona in second place.
After three victories in its last three games Highlands has moved back up into the promotion mix and is four points behind Woonona in fifth spot.
The top two sides at the end of the regular season will move up to the top flight next season, with the third-placed team playing off against the Premier League wooden spooners for the final spot in the top comp next year.
Highlands United player-coach Curtis Campbell is confident his side can gain promotion at the end of the year if the side keeps playing at its best.
"I think Bulli are too far ahead of everybody, so I don't think we can get top spot, but in reality we can still get second and failing that we're a good chance of finishing third."
Highlands has a tough run home, starting with this weekend's match with Bulli, followed by matches against finals contenders Warilla, University and Shellharbour City.
Campbell genuinely believes his side can beat Bulli this weekend, despite their impressive record of 38 goals scored and only 14 against.
"Bulli are the best team in the competition and they haven't lost a game all year, but we had them 3-0 down when we played them and we thought we really should have beat them," he said.
"I really think we can upstage them and that's the felling the boys have as well. There's a good feeling in the team and hopefully we can roll them on Saturday."
Highlands will have to play well all over the park to beat Bulli with all players need ing to be on top of their game like they have been building up to in the last couple of weeks.
"We've got to make sure we defend well, because they've scored some good goals and they don't leak many goals so our strikers have got to be on target and our midfield has to play well and control the ball," Campbell said.
The side has recieved a blow in the lead up to the match with goalkeeper Gary Butler out with a recurring knee injury.
The experienced stopper will be out for the next four weeks with the Highlands club running desperately short of keepers at the moment.
Reserve grade number one Brendan Dodds has two weeks to run on his suspension, which means youth grade keeper Lachlan Barber is the only recognised goalie available for selection.
Barber has been playing both youth and reserve grade matches for most of the season, but on Saturday he is likely to play youth and first grade, with reserves having to find a stand-in.
"If Lachlan was to play (youth grade) and got injured, I don't know what we'd do," Campbell said.
"We don't really want to be losing anybody at the moment but Gary's only 70 per cent and him at 70 per cent is not as good as the young fella at 100 per cent, so he's doing the right thing by the club."
Action begins at Renwick tomorrow with the youth grade match at 11am, followed by reserves at 1pm and the top grade clash at 3pm.
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