Broadbeach find mojo Dolphins regain belief after disjointed pre-season

THEY have so far been a shadow of their best but Broadbeach United believe they have turned a corner in time for tonight’s inaugural Anzac Day Shield battle with Palm Beach.

Runners-up to Gold Coast Knights for both pieces of Premier League silverware in 2018, the perennial title challengers sit fourth in the new campaign after struggling to build cohesion in the pre-season.

Having surrendered a twogoal lead to draw with lastplaced Tweed United in Round 1, the Dolphins dropped more points with a stalemate against Nerang before scraping past battling Mudgeeraba 3-2.

A 1-0 win over high-flying Coomera lifted morale but their unbeaten run was finally broken with a 2-1 loss to Burleigh Heads last Thursday.

Now preparing for a trip to Duncan McKenna Field (7pm), veteran midfielder Russell Miner said while the playing group was aware they needed to lift, confidence was high performances would turn.

“We’ve started slow but I think there’s a general belief we have got over that,” the 37year-old midfielder said.

“Against Burleigh I was suspended and we had two players (Tim and Ben Kerwick) away. We went to Coomera and ground out a 1-0 win and I think that’s given a bit of confidence to everyone.

“We didn’t have a great preseason, we had too many players taking holidays and picking up niggles and different things. It meant come Round 1 we were underdone and that showed.”

Miner said the meeting with Palm Beach, who haven’t played a league fixture since beating Tweed 2-0 on April 6, would be “a good occasion”.

“My grandfather was part of the second World War but it will be different for everyone,” he said. “Duncan (McKenna, Palm Beach president) came up with the idea of doing an Anzac Day game and we were happy to oblige.”

In NPL action on Monday, Gold Coast Knights thumped Brisbane Strikers 6-1.