WITH seven regular first graders missing for a variety of reasons Port FC knew they were in for a battle against high-flying Wallis Lake.
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After being routed 10-1 by Taree a week earlier, there was a steely resolve in the FC mindset to not let history repeat.
In the end FC went down 5-1, but captain Scott Spokes was full of praise for his young side who looked comfortable for the opening 25 minutes.
“They just slowly wore us down,” he said.
Harvey Kaye opened the scoring in the 25th minute after a delightful through ball from Adam Howell.
The 16-year-old showed calm composure to slot the ball home and give FC the lead.
But with so many players missing it was a matter of time before Wallis Lake showed why they are one of the competition favourites.
Two goals in two minutes leading in to half-time gave them the lead at the break and they never relinquished it.
“We knew we were down on numbers and ran out of legs a bit,” Spokes said.
With three games remaining in FC’s season, the captain said their focus was now on trying to stay out of the Football Mid North Coast Premier League cellar.
“We’ve got one game against Port Saints who are on the same points as us so our focus is now on not finishing last,” Spokes said.