APOLLO ON MISSION TO BOUNCE BACK FROM BROADBEACH LOSS
SURFERS Paradise are preparing for Burleigh Heads to fight fire with fire when they meet in a crucial Gold Coast Premier League clash at Pizzey Park today.
With Surfers slipping to a 3-2 loss to Broadbeach United on Tuesday night, Burleigh’s lead atop the ladder stretched to eight points as their comefrom-behind 3-1 win over Coomera sealed an eighthstraight win.
Apollo coach Alex Morrison admitted his troops struggled to deal with Broadbeach’s long-ball tactics as they surrendered a 2-1 halftime lead, but said he expected a different threat from the competition pacesetters in their 7pm fixture.
“Burleigh are a different type of team to Broadbeach, they play a lot more football and we’ve got to be ready for that,” Morrison, known for his possession-based coaching philosophy, said.
“Phelo (Burleigh coach Colin Phelan) will have his team ready to roll and we’ve just got to lift ourselves up. It’s Gold Coast Premier League, it’s like this every week.
“We probably should’ve been up three or 4-1 (against Broadbeach). Obviously I’m bitter and disappointed about
(the loss) but at the end of the day Broadbeach do what they do and they got the result.
“They’re hard to play against. They smash the ball up the pitch, they win the second ball, they all work hard and it’s hard to play against.
“They’re really good at it. I warned the boys all week what they would do and they did it. That style of football can always take the game to you, it’s always hard to play against.”
While Surfers’ charge has been led by Teddy Watson with a league-high 13 goals, Burleigh have found a second attacking threat in David Mutch.
The Bulldogs relied heavily on Golden Boot winner Matt Hilton last season, with the former Joeys star finishing with 27 goals.
Fellow striker Mutch has added another dimension however, netting eight times in 2019 to sit second on the Premier League goalscoring table.
Surfers’ Hayden Sumner and Burleigh’s Yuto Hayamizu are equal-third with seven goals.