Wanderers sneak into TFL finals
FOOTBALL: West Wanderers were praying for a miracle earlier in the season to salvage their finals chances.
Going into their last-round Toowoomba Football League game against Gatton on Sunday, the reigning premiers needed a win to book their place in the finals after a poor start to the season that only picked up over the past month or two.
A 4-0 win over Gatton at Nell E Robinson Park meant they pulled off what even their coach thought was fairly unlikely.
“We got ourselves into a position where every game we had to win. There was no beating about the bush or sugar-coating it,” Wanderers coach Mark Robinson said.
“We got ourselves into a stupid situation early in the year.”
Wanderers front-man Michael McCarthy grabbed two goals to cause scenes of sheer jubilation from one to 11 on the field after each celebration.
The Redbacks applied pressure, with a number of chances cleared off the line in the second half.
Chances that earlier in the year didn’t come off, found their way into the goal to make the last six games of the TFL season grand-finals in their own right.
With Gatton slipping out of the top four, Robinson’s side faces a semi-final date with Rockville in two weeks’ time.
Key to their revival was the ability to play freely, without the pressure of finals football in their minds.
“To be honest I resigned myself to not playing finals football this year,” Robinson said. “I told them to play like we’re not going to make the finals and enjoy it.”
Gatton decided against parking the bus, attacking Wanderers for the full 90 despite needing just a draw to make the top four.
“We’ve done it the hard way but we got there and that is all that matters. It was basically do or die,” Robinson said.
“Yes we’re defending premiers but we let ourselves down and played really poor in some parts of the season.”