Underdogs turning heads
Burleigh look to keep their miracle season going
BURLEIGH Heads have spent their Gold Coast Premier League soccer season proving doubters wrong and believe they can continue the trend tonight.
A Burleigh Heads side down to bare bones because of player unavailability will look to beat premiers Gold Coast Knights at the Croatian Sports Centre and seal a grand final spot.
An already depleted Burleigh will be without Michael Townsend and Hayden Sumner after both received red cards in the club’s 1-0 victory over Surfers Paradise last weekend.
“We are down to the bare bones,” Burleigh coach Keith Garland said.
“We were already struggling for numbers last week and it’s not going to be pretty.
“We haven’t got the depth. We are going to be heavy underdogs but that is football, that’s the way it is.
“We just have to cop it and do the best we can but you have to believe you can still win it or it’s not worth playing the game.
“The lads I put out will give it everything they got and that’s all I can ask.”
Critics predicted Burleigh Heads would be relegated in the lead-up to this season but the team finished fourth and are now one game away from the big dance.
“We are in the semi-final that nobody dreamt we would be in,” Garland said.
“Everyone was talking about us being relegated this year and we made the top four and now we have made the major semi-final so we have actually exceeded every expectation.”
The Knights lost in a penalty shootout last week to Broadbeach United but coach Alex Morrison said they remained confident they could bounce back tonight to set up a rematch.
“We just have to play our game and make sure we are switched on and ready to go and everyone is fully committed to the game,” Morrison said. “We are very motivated to do the double.
“The club and the players are motivated and it’s something that we set out as a really big goal at the beginning of the year to do.
“We have got to get there first, though.”
Gold Coast will give midfielder Yuji Hirayama up until kick-off to recover from a rib injury and he could be replaced by Seb Buckingham who is coming back from suspension.