KNIGHTS HEADING SOUTH FOLLOWING CUP EXIT
THE emotional comedown from their historic FFA Cup run now looms as the most immediate threat for the Gold Coast Knights as they turn their attention to the Premier League double that eluded them last season.
Downed 1-0 by A-League grand finalists Newcastle in the club’s first Round of 32 cup appearance on Tuesday night, the newly crowned Premier League champions will travel to Murwillumbah in the local competition’s penultimate round on Saturday.
With top spot already secure for the secondstraight year, coach Grae Piddick admitted the 3pm trip to Jim Devine Field shaped as a dangerous one following a mentally and physically draining battle with the Jets.
“The challenge for my boys now is to go to Murwillumbah on Saturday where you can’t fit in the change rooms and your vegetable patch is probably a better pitch. They’ve got to now get themselves up for that,” Piddick, who was coaching a side in the Round of 32 for the fourth time, said.
“It’s unusual to be saying this but (the Newcastle game) is probably one that got away. The boys played very, very well … and did everything they possibly could to win the game bar take a few chances.
“We were well in the game for the whole game. It is a bit of a downer from a result point of view but they’ve got to get themselves up again to go in the league.”