Coach resigned to loss as TSS falters
But players hold their nerve to claim GPS football crown
“I WAS preparing my letter of resignation because I just couldn’t see any way I would be welcomed at school on Monday.”
Those are the words of The Southport School First XI coach Joe Dolan after witnessing his side blow a 4-1 lead before holding on to win 5-3 in its season-defining GPS clash against St Joseph’s Gregory Terrace.
A win would all but secure TSS the 2020 GPS XI title and the boys from Southport looked on track to record a resounding win away from home when disaster struck.
Boasting a 4-1 lead, defender Max Sabados was handed a yellow card for a string of “questionable” fouls.
“It was a dangerous situation for us because their attacking players are very clever and I thought they could easily manufacture a situation where he’d get booked again,” Dolan said.
“We had a game plan that was working for about 35 minutes and then he got booked.
“I spoke to Max at halftime and just told him to stay calm and be careful but then he got into a situation where he tripped one of their forwards and got a second yellow card and was sent off.”
It meant TSS was forced to play most of the second half with 10 men and Gregory Terrace quickly took advantage of the situation.
The home side converted a penalty kick from a handball to make it 4-2 before scoring another cracking goal to get within one goal of TSS.
“It was very tense at that point but fortunately we managed to get a goal on the break and Lochie Johnston, who has been fantastic all season, basically finished it off for us,” Dolan said. “We managed to keep them at length for the rest of the game but it was very dramatic.
“There was a wave of relief because we were the better team and deserved to win and I think if we’d stayed at 11 v 11, we should and would’ve been more comfortable but that’s football.
“I have so much respect for our starting 11 and our subs who came on with fresh legs.”
After reportedly coaching in his sleep on Saturday night following TSS’s first football GPS premiership since its run of three titles between 2012 and 2014, Dolan said the monumental victory hadn’t yet sunk in.
“We’ve had a lot of things against us this year from COVID-19 to the weather when we thought we weren’t even going to get to play Nudgee let alone a whole season,” Dolan said.
“We’ve got a fair amount of time to enjoy it now and we’ve got Ipswich next week to finish the season but with respect to them, we don’t have to beat them.”
Dolan said he would drive to Brisbane on Monday to collect the GPS premiership trophy.