Rangers cling to lead after Dolphins belting

FOOTBALL MARLIN Coast’s position atop the 2018 Premier ladder is a little wobbly after the Rangers were dealt a four-goal shellacking by arch rivals the Dolphins.

Stratford coach Joe Rusch said there was a certain satisfaction to the win.

“During the last game we played them they were running to the bench and rubbed it in our faces,” Rusch said.

“We were looking forward to the game.”

A “pretty outstanding” effort by the Dolphins midfield brought out the best in the eldest team in the competition.

“We have been playing the game a lot of years, our midfield can play their positions a bit better,” Rusch said.

The writing is on the wall for Marlin Coast.

Weeks of talent drain and injuries have whittled their lead at the top of the ladder down to one point ahead of Southside.

After seven weeks of steamrollering all before them, the Ranger’s momentum sputtered after a one goal loss to Innisfail United and a draw with Mareeba FC.

“I told the boys four weeks ago ‘be prepared because things don’t look great’,” coach James Tweed said.

“The flow and have changed.”

The loss of centre back and midfield players and an injured striker cannot be made up easily sequence by a team with no junior squad and few reserves.

“If we had a youth team we’d feed them into the reserves,” Tweed said.

He said the opposing teams had “given their all” to claw their way up the ladder.

Fresh from a rained-out match against Edge Hill United, Southside are very keen to come to grips with the competition leaders this weekend. “We played Marlin Coast about four weeks ago and they gave us a lesson in football and they let us know it,” coach Dion Readman said.

The 3-0 shutdown caused some post-match soul searching and some fine tuning in the centre.

“The boys are highly motivated to return the favour.”