Sport
8 April, 2024
Bulls go down to Edge Hill
EDGE Hill’s premier men and women were a force to be reckoned with over the weekend, with the Mareeba Bulls team going down during round five of the FQPL Far North season.
Starting strong with Darcy McCormack scoring the first goal of the game, the Bulls men were confident they had the game under control.
But “silly mistakes” cost the team, with Edge Hill’s Ryan Murray coming in and scoring his team’s first goal just before the halftime bell.
Mareeba were unable to come back during the second half, with Patrick Ballarin scoring Edge Hill’s last goal in the 49th minute.
It was a messy affair afterwards, with four Bulls being yellow-carded in the last 20 minutes. Edge Hill ended up taking the win, 2-1.
Coach Kane Alderton said it was hard to pinpoint what went wrong, but he was confident the men could bounce back as they head into their next game.
“We just need to forget about that and start concentrating on this weekend and making sure the boys put that loss behind them,” he said.
“In the last few games, we have dropped a few points that we probably shouldn’t have, and hopefully, that doesn’t come back to bite us.
“But I am confident with the boys, and they are playing with confidence and training really well, so I know they will bounce back.”
In the women’s game, nerves were what pulled the team down, with the pressure becoming to much for them to handle, according to coach Christian Mukadi.
Edge Hill powered through the game hard, with goals shot in the 14th, 68th, 72nd and 78th minutes.
Katia Spena came through in the 86th and scored one goal for Mareeba, settling the score at 4-1.
“I think the girls prepared well for the game, but the reality was on the day, they were maybe a bit too nervous and by the time those nerves wore off, it was a bit too late in the game to come back,” Mukadi said.
“I think maybe I pushed them too hard, believing they could win, and that meant we didn’t play a proper game of soccer until the last 15 minutes.
“I think the ability is there; we just need the confidence and to focus on playing our game and not the opposition game.”
Round six of the local soccer season will see Mareeba go up against the Leichhardt Lions away. The men will go head to head with their rivals from 7pm on Saturday, and the ladies will take them on Friday at 8.30pm.
