Initiation from hell
United give up quickfire four goals but fight back in defeat
GOLD Coast United women’s coach Michael Cook is still scratching his head after a bizarre initiation for his side in the National Premier Leagues by his side.
Playing away to Mitchelton at Teralba Park in Brisbane on Tuesday night – a game that had been washed out the previous Saturday – Cook was gobsmacked when the home side put four goals on United within eight minutes of kick-off.
“It was almost unexplainable, I have never, ever seen anything quite like that,” Cook said of his team’s NPL debut.
“It was almost like my girls just wanted to watch them.”
From that point, being 0-4 down in the blink of an eye, United showed character and eventually lost 4-3 after taking control of the game.
“Therein lies a positive because they could easily have fallen apart,” Cook said.
“The big positive is that some of the things coaches don’t know about players is what sort of character they have was answered very quickly.
“You could tell at halftime they were angry with themselves.”
Centre forward Mackenzie Akins, an American who played professionally in Sweden last year, scored all three United’s goals and was a star.
So were defenders Ellie Fryer and Neesa Doyle.
“Those three were the ones who led by example and got us back in the game,” Cook said.
“If I had to guess what was behind that start maybe it was because we have had such a long build-up and expectations that some of the players did not cope with.
“But they’ve learnt that to do that at that level they’ll get punished.”
United now play a secondround match at home on Saturday (5pm) against Eastern Suburbs at Robina Station Reserve.
United’s men, coming off a 3-1 away win to Cairns FC over the weekend, play Brisbane Roar Youth at 7pm.