TIGERS RULE NQ KINGDOM
Edge Hill Utd on track for repeat of Australia Cup heroics
EDGE Hill United’s goal of maintaining its crown as the best football club in north Queensland is on course.
The Tigers progressed to the last regional stage of the Australia Cup courtesy of a 4-3 win against FQPL Northern’s MA Olympic in Townsville on Saturday in a game which packed three different contests into 90 minutes.
Proud Tigers playercoach Crios O’Hare could not mask his disappointment at the way his team surrendered an early lead, but lauded Edge Hill United’s fightback.
“They really took it to us,” O’Hare said.
“I was disappointed with the way we conceded those goals. They took over the game, but after they took the lead we found another gear.”
O’Hare and recent acquisition Harry Corica gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead within 20 minutes, but MA Olympic equalised 10 minutes later.
It stayed that way until after halftime when the home side hit the lead in the 52nd minute.
“It was frustrating, the way we played after leading and giving it up,” O’Hare said. “The goals they scored were fairly disappointing for us. We weren’t negative at halftime. It was just making sure that we believed.
“We’ve been in situations like that before, worse positions, and managed to play our way out of it.”
That deficit, and the accompanying halftime chat, sparked a fire in Edge Hill United, and returning teenager Ben McDonnell became the ultimate supersub when he laid on O’Hare’s second goal before grabbing the matchwinner in his first top-grade game in nine months.
“He was outstanding for his first game back in nine months, and that shows the importance of having a good squad,” O’Hare said.
“Our players are aware you might not play every week, but everyone will play a different part in the team’s success over the year.
“If Davit (Davitadze) was here he probably would have been that first sub, but Ben played really well, and so did Harry.”
Corica now has three goals in this first two games for Edge Hill United, which will shift focus to the FQPL Far North and Gulf Men’s.
Edge Hill United should host the qualifier from the Whitsunday-Mackay/Wide Bay playoff next month.