TIGERLAND UNDER SIEGE IN THE CUP
Edge Hill Utd face their toughest challenge when Magpies Crusaders Utd come to town
EDGE Hill United face the toughest challenge of the Crios O’Hare era on Saturday when the Far North football powerhouse hosts Magpies Crusaders United in the Australia Cup.
With two losses and a draw in their most recent four stars, O’Hare has not been in this position since taking over as Edge Hill Utd coach.
His team lost just two games in 2019, none in 2020, and two in 2021 to across all competitions to boast one of the best records in Queensland over that time.
This Australia Cup tie, against the team they dumped from the 2021 knockout tournament – and on their turf, no less – feels different, with the Tigers battling a crippling injury toll and player availability issues which has left the side susceptible to attack.
O’Hare himself is under an injury cloud, and just 24 hours from kick-off was rated a 50-50 chance of sitting on the bench, let alone starting at striker where he won the 2021 Golden Boot title and holds a big lead this year.
“It hasn’t been a great few weeks for us,” O’Hare said.
“We’ve lost a couple of games, we drew one on the weekend.
“I’m not going to stand here and make excuses, we haven’t been good enough in the last few games. The games we lost we haven’t defended well enough and we haven’t been clinical up front.
“We need to be better in a few areas. Coming up against Mackay will be difficult, and we certainly need to lift if we’re going to get anything from this game.”
That recent run, during which Edge Hill Utd fell to Marlin Coast twice and was held to a 0-0 draw by lowly Stratford, hasn’t made too much of an impression on O’Hare.
“It’s a bigger deal for others than it is for us,” O’Hare said. “We’ve had a couple of poor results from a couple of poor performances, but at the end of the day it’s only a couple of losses.
“We’ve got the squad, the confidence and the experience to get past it. My faith in the team and the players is as high as ever, I’m sure we’ll bounce back and I hope we bounce back this weekend.”
Winger Ben McDonnell, who returned from a serious leg injury earlier this year, said the past few weeks hadn’t gone to plan, but hoped they could get it together and get the result against their highly fancied rivals.
“We haven’t shown up, but it’s good overall,” McDonnell said.
“The first few games were a bit shaky but I feel now, I don’t think about it anymore.
“If everything goes to plan we should be happy with a good result.”
Carlos Lewong, who was at Magpies in 2019-20 and could start in place of O’Hare, said he had scouted his opponent.
“A few times our boys were there for tournaments so we got to watch a few of their games there or on YouTube, but they’re a good side,” Lewong said. “Crios puts us in a good position mentally and physically, regardless of the situation we’re in or challenges coming up, but overall the boys are confident. We work hard.”
Edge Hill Utd will play on the familiar dimensions of Tiger Park, and if that helps gives the side an advantage against a side like Magpies, who are sixth in FQPL1 with a 7-6 record, then O’Hare will take it.
“Hopefully it’s an advantage for us playing at home and having the support of our supporters and members here – and hopefully the football community here in Cairns,” he said.
“What we did last year was great, but that’s a long time ago and it’s a different set of players.
“From what we’ve seen of Mackay they’re a good team, and they’re in good form as well.
“We expect them to be good, playing the level they do. They’ve made some good signings during the week and they’re not coming up here to lose and they’ll be looking to make up for last year’s result.
“All the pressure is on them. “We get told all the time that we’re just a local team in Cairns and no one expects much from us so we’ll see how we go.”
Kick-off is at 7pm.