Wallabies pay for lapse

Young squad close to causing upset, says coach

IF not for a devastating 10minute period late in the game on Saturday night, Mudgeeraba could have claimed their first big scalp of the Gold Coast Premier League season.

After going into the break 2-1 down, coach Jamie Boelen felt his young Wallabies were in for the fight but a lapse of concentration proved fatal as Palm Beach piled on three goals in 10 minutes to claim their fourth win of the season.

“I felt like we were dominant in the middle part of the game but we’ve had issues closing out games,” Boelen said. “We have a very young and inexperienced side and we switched off for 10 minutes late. We can’t just work for 60 minutes or 80 minutes we need to be on the whole game.”

The second half was always going to be tough work for Mudgeeraba, with the fledging PL side losing captain Lucas Macpherson for the final 45minute period.

“I said that we were getting on top and we just had to keep pushing them,” Boelen said of his halftime message to the team.

“We lost our captain at halftime because we had to run off to a family function so that disrupted us a bit.

“We’re just lacking a bit of cutting edge and that finishing touch.”

Despite going down by four goals to the side one place above them in the PL standings, Boelen believes his side has what it takes to beat a side ranked above them.

“I keep thinking we’re ready to win and that this is the weekend,” he said.

“It’s always tough coming against those better sides like Burleigh and Surfers but we pushed Nerang all the way twice.

“We’re young and inexperienced but once we get our first big win I think it will all come together and we’ll roll on from there.

“Hopefully it starts to turn for us because the boys are working hard and really want it so we’re going to have to find it within us.”

The Wallabies will now turn their attention to a Thursday night clash against the fourth placed Coomera Colts.

“We just need to focus on putting in a 90-minute shift,” said Boelen.

In the other weekend results, Surfers Paradise inflicted Burleigh’s first defeat of the year to keep the title race alive with a 3-0 win, while Nerang downed Broadbeach 5-1.

Yesterday afternoon Coomera kept pace with the leaders with a 5-1 victory over Tweed.