PORT United will enter the Football Mid North Coast Premier League’s second-chance draw following a 4-2 extra-time defeat to Macleay Valley on Saturday.
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Things were going exactly to plan when Matt Broderick and Josh Casey found the back of the net in the first half to give the visitors a 2-0 lead at the break.
Then it all went pear-shaped.
Rangers pulled one back through Andrew Potter before they equalised from the penalty spot in the 82nd minute when Potter was ruled to have been brought down in the box.
John Henry then coolly converted the spot kick.
United coach Nathan Wade was left to lament one that got away.
“We shouldn’t have let it get to 2-2,” Wade said.
“We could have led three or four-nil at half-time, but we just didn’t convert our chances and let two goals in – one of which was our own fault.”
Wade admitted by the end of regulation time the hosts were full of running while his men were almost running up hill.
“When they got the first goal they lifted with the home crowd, but then we steadied the ship for a little while,” he said.
“Then it was like we were waiting for the game to finish.”
With the scores locked at 2-2 after the first period of extra-time, Wade felt the match was headed to penalties.
That was until Rangers’ winger Sam Applegate stepped up and fired in a strike that nestled in the top corner.
“It was going to take something special to break the deadlock; it was a fantastic goal,” Wade said.
It was going to take something special to break the deadlock; it was a fantastic goal.
- Port United coach Nathan Wade
As United pushed forward for a third goal, they left themselves open at the back and the Rangers made them pay when Potter slotted his second goal.
United’s defeat ended a run of seven matches without a loss dating back to late-June.
“You never like to lose a game, but maybe it was a good game to lose,” Wade said.
“Every game is sudden death for us now.”
Rangers coach Keith Morn was ecstatic with his side’s finish to the game.
“We were poor in the first half, they controlled the game and had more of the ball and field position,” Morn said.
“But they used all their effort in the first half and ran out of energy after that.
“The game changed in the second half, everything was going our way and we dominated them for the rest of the match.”
Morn agreed Applegate’s goal was one from the top drawer.
“No goalkeeper would have stopped it, he wouldn’t have even seen it,” he said.
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