BELIEF BUILDING FOR COAST DESPITE DEFEAT
“DEVASTATED” coach Michael Cook insists Gold Coast United were the better side in Saturday night’s heartbreaking loss to NPL Women’s powerhouse The Gap.
In a seesawing affair at Walton Bridge Reserve in Brisbane’s west, United were pipped on the bell as the unbeaten Gators got out of jail with a 4-3 win.
With the visitors leading 1-0 at the break thanks to an Anjel Brown header, the second half produced six goals, including The Gap’s injury-time winner.
“We were the better team for most of the match and to not get the reward we deserved, we’re devastated,” Cook said.
“The big positive from the match is that we showed without doubt that we are one of the best teams in the league and performances like this will see a winning run of games on the way. Every player that stepped on to the pitch played terrific football and worked incredibly hard.
“We’ll be climbing the table in no time.”
Ruth Blackburn was the star for The Gap with four NPL WOMEN R8
Lions
The Gap Souths Utd Mitchelton Roar/NTC East. Suburbs Western Pride Moreton Bay GC Utd Capalaba Mudgeeraba Logan
Sun Coast SWQ
P W 6 6 6 6 7 6 7 5 7 4 7 4 7 3 6 3 7 2 5 2 7 1 8 1 4 0 8 0
D 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0
L 0 0 1 2 2 3 3 3 4 2 5 7 3 8
GD 30 27 17 11 7 -3 6 5 4 -5 -35 -16 -17 -31 Pts 18 18 18 15 13 12 10 9 7 7 4 3 1 0
goals, but second-half strikes from Brown and Mackenzie Akins kept United in the contest.
They led 2-1 shortly after halftime, but found themselves down 3-2 before Akins’ equaliser with 15 minutes remaining.
With a break over Easter, the Coast will hope to close the gap on the top four when they play away to the Western Pride on April 7.
Mudgeeraba remains in 11th place after falling to Easts 2-1 at Coorparoo on Saturday night.
They pulled level at 1-1 through Shelby White shortly before halftime, but a Tigers goal just after the break proved the difference.