Dolphins seek return to form in FFA Cup
STRATFORD may be in the midst of a horror early season run but the Dolphins will have to pull out all the stops if the club is to progress further in the FFA Cup.
The Dolphins face Leichhardt in Round 4 of the nationwide knockout at Endeavour Park tonight. Stratford knocked off Marlin Coast in Round 3, but has not won in the month since that 3-2 extra-time classic.
Leichhardt won their Premier League bout 5-2 on Saturday, and enter in hot form.
Tonight’s winner will next week meet the winner of tomorrow’s clash between Edge Hill United and Innisfail.
SHOULD Stratford miss the FNQ Football Premier League finals this year, the Dolphins could very well look to Rounds 3 and 4 as the games that let them down most.
Stratford will today travel to Endeavour Park for their fourth-round FFA Cup clash with Leichhardt, their second clash in four days.
The wet weather-affected start to the season hasn’t been kind to most teams, but the Dolphins managed to get two extra home games.
Most sports teams try to turn their home ground into a fortress: if you win all of your home games, when the opposition is forced to travel, generally you’ll finish in the top half of the competition.
Try as they might, it turned into the opposite for Stratford.
They’ve lost their past two games at home. First, it was a 4-2 loss to Marlin Coast, then on Saturday, a 5-2 loss to Leichhardt Lions.
Dolphins coach Alastair Yeablsey was disappointed.
“Particularly at the start of the season. We’ve dropped six points in two games so that’s not good,” Yeabsley said.
Stratford’s fortunes were similar in both games, and the Lions will be ready to pounce come the first whistle tonight.
They started slowly, conceded the bulk of their goals in the first half, then matched their opponents in the second stanza to add respectability to the scoreboard and seemingly misplaced hope the fortunes would turn around.
“We did the same thing against Coast last week. It’s not a matter of going back to the drawing board and working on thing. It’s there, we just don’t have the polish in that first 45 minutes,” Yeabsley said.
Tonight’s FFA Cup game kicks off at 7pm.