PORT United coach Nathan Wade believes his side are not good enough to win the competition after Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Port Saints at Dixie Park.
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United scored the first goal within 60 seconds of the start of the match through a Matt Broderick free-kick, but that was as good as it got.
“To win the competition you have to be consistent and there is too much of a difference between our best and our worst,” Wade said.
“Full credit to Saints because you only play as good as you’re allowed, but we were more worried about knocking the man over than playing the game.”
Wade felt his side was complacent after Saints lost goalkeeper Cameron Higham and striker Aaron Grose before the game.
“You have to put in the hard yards to win games and we weren’t prepared to do that,” he said.
“We learnt the hard way that things don’t just happen, you have to make them happen.
“We weren’t prepared to get down and dirty.”
We were more worried about knocking the man over than playing the game.
- Port United coach Nathan Wade
Wade said Saints stand-in goalkeeper Matt Crawford pulled off a couple of top-shelf saves to keep his side in the game.
“He had a couple of really good saves where it looked like the ball was going into the corner, but he got a hand to it,” he said.
Saints coach John Goodman was pleased to come away with all three points which cements their position in the Football Mid North Coast Premier League finals.
The win is also believed to be Saints first-ever over Port United at Dixie Park.
Goodman conceded he didn’t have a good “vibe” about his side in the warm-up and then he was very concerned after they conceded the first goal.
But the youthful second-placed Saints, who had just two players over the age of 18, warmed to their task and equalised 10 minutes later through Flynn Goodman.
Sam Bailey then put them in front just before half-time and then they held their slender advantage until full-time.
Goodman admitted his side played “more conservatively” in the second half which was a change to their normal way of play.
It was a learning curve for us and I learnt that we can defend a lead.
- Port Saints coach John Goodman
“It was a learning curve for us and I learnt that we can defend a lead,” he said.
“We can concentrate for a longer period of time because the second half was tough – they probably had more of the ball than us.”
The Saints coach was also pleased with the performance of teenager Patty Hamilton who had arguably his best game all season.
“He had to change position to right back midway through the game and he played really well there,” he said.
Midfielders Griffin Goodman and Bailey Pascoe controlled the match from the middle of the park.
“Those two did all the dirty work that not a lot of people see,” he said.
United’s loss sees them slide to fifth, just one point ahead of sixth-placed Forster-Tuncurry, while Saints now have a three-point buffer over third-placed Wallis Lake.