Coach vents anger as Tigerstix squander chance to post win
DEFENDING champion Labrador has slammed back down to earth after throwing away a Brisbane Hockey League game it should have won.
An unreliable surface frustrated the Tigerstix at every turn but was no excuse for snatching a draw from the jaws of victory.
Joe Sandor set the club to a 1-0 lead in the second quarter but the team failed to put the game away, opening the door for a heartbreaking lastminute Commercial equaliser.
The loss of national representatives, brothers Dylan and Blake Wotherspoon and young gun Luca Brown, hurt Labrador but coach Darren Fowler stressed his side had its opportunities to secure its first win of the season. It just failed to convert them.
“Having those guys available would have made a difference but the guys on the pitch should have converted their ‘iso’ shots and scored goals,” Fowler said.
“Unfortunately we didn’t. We squandered so many opportunities which was disappointing.”
The one competition point secured from the draw has set the champs just two ladder positions above the wooden spoon.
As the Tigerstix regroup for their first home game next weekend, club officials will work overtime to ensure their return to Burringbar Park in Brisbane will not be on the “sand turf” field they encountered last Saturday.
Fowler slammed the facility’s new pitch as atrocious and terrible. “It was a big leveller because it drags more skilful teams down to their level,” he said.
“We play on water-based but this was a hybrid turf with sand as the lubricant, which is like a 20-year-old technology. It’s just terrible.
“It was slow, sticky and our skilful players couldn’t run the ball on it.
“We have another five games on it so we’ll have to change our game plan because the style we play at other fields can’t be executed on a field this poor.”