Stratford must now capitalise on chances
STRATFORD have no trouble creating chances, but they may find themselves in a spot of bother if they don’t score more often, according to captain Josh Purton.
The Dolphins earned the first win of their season against a 10-man Marlin Coast at Pennell Field.
Jordan Leporati scored in his Premier League debut while a late Joe Rusch penalty sealed the 2-0 result to send Stratford into the top four.
But Purton said there were areas the team could still improve on ahead of a clash with Mareeba.
“I think we’re doing quite well defensively. We can work a little bit more on our build-up play, sometimes we forced it too much,” Purton said.
“We created a lot of chances, some of those were long distance shots … but the finishing let us down.”
Purton praised Marlin Coast’s effort, who looked as if they would equalise through a dominant section of the second half. Jeffrey Lassche’s penalty was saved by Stratford goalkeeper Ronnie Leporati, while a number of other good chances went wide or over the crossbar.
Marlin Coast coach Mikhail Clement was happy with how his troops fought.
“(It’s) very frustrating because we fought back pretty well in that second half,” Clement said. “We deserved to come back; we missed the penalty which doesn’t help. I can’t be annoyed with the team, it is what it is. We have the bye next week so we’ll have a think about what we can improve.”
Jake Edmunds was sent off midway through the first half, and while Marlin Coast players and fans weren’t happy at the time Clement said there was no argument.
“He was the last defender, it was a goalscoring situation, so there’s no point trying to argue about it,” Clement said.
Lassche and Jamie Fellows kept busy for the full 90, while Geoffrey Bulkua and William Churchward were dynamic whenever they had possession.
While they didn’t do enough to win, Clement is confident that with more time together – and some luck – the Rangers’ fortunes will turn.
“The chances are there, now we just need to score them,” he said.