PORT Macquarie finished with a fourth place to show for their efforts at the under-15 state championships at Taree at the weekend.
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The luckless Port boys registered just one win from five matches, but it was a 2-0 loss to Manning that left coach Colin Pursehouse shaking his head.
“We hit the post four times that match,” he said.
“If we had have scored all four goals we would have won.”
Port Macquarie won division three last year, but found the going much tougher in division two.
“We hoped to do a lot better, but we learnt a bit from the whole experience,” Pursehouse said.
They were unable to convert their opportunities when they presented themselves, although the coach remained upbeat after the tournament.
“It would have been nice to make the semi-finals,” he said.
Goalkeeper Declan Pitt had a “cracker” tournament, while captain Hamish McKie led from the front.
Jesse Beard finished as the team’s leading goalscorer.
Port Macquarie started their campaign with a 2-0 defeat of Dubbo which was followed by a 2-0 loss to Manning, a 5-0 defeat to Hockey New England before Nepean were too good with a 3-1 win.
After the tournament, Ben Heslop was added to the under-15 New South Wales state squad.