Daniel Pyne is at home at Souths United and Tamworth Golf Club

He counts himself lucky: his convivial work environment is superbly complimented by another of his natural habitats: Souths United Football Club.

Since he was young boy, Pyne has called Souths home.

The central defender/midfielder was born and bred in Tamworth. After high school, he initially studied nursing at the University of New England before switching to criminology.

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He said: "Come the start of the third year of criminology, I kind of was just getting over the assignments - I wasn't really sure what I was doing it for. So I decided to take a break from that."

Pyne then landed the golf club job, and has "loved it ever since".

"I just enjoy being there," he said, adding: "I suppose as far as bar work goes, it's about as cruisy as it gets."

"It's similar to the Souths thing: you get to know everyone. It's just a good atmosphere," he also said.

At Riverside on Saturday, the McCarthy Catholic College alumnus will line up for Souths as they attempt to end one of New England sport's great achievements.

If they defeat OVA, an unbeaten run dating back to round one in 2020 will be snapped at 42 games.

"It's a very impressive stat," Pyne said.

Souths United, themselves, are on an undefeated run - albeit far inferior to OVA's.

The upset of the year would extend that undefeated run to five games.

Pyne said fourth-placed Souths - who are nine points behind ladder leaders OVA - had settled into the season after losing their first two matches, including a 4-0 loss to Mushies.

He believes the side were "trying too hard" after winning the preseason Johnson Cup, "instead of just enjoying the game like we normally would do".

"So, now that we've gelled a bit more throughout the season, we've lost that expectation that we're trying to drive to," he added.

"I think, now that we're just out there to enjoy ourselves, we can put a good game on this weekend."

Souths are coming off a 1-0 win over North Companions, while OVA beat Kootingal 6-0 last round.

Elsewhere at Riverside on Saturday, fifth-placed Tamworth FC and third-placed Moore Creek will meet - as will sixth-placed Hillvue and seventh-placed Kootingal.

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