COOMERA BLUNT KNIGHTS’ CUTTING EDGE

Coomera 1 (T. Martinez)

Gold Coast Knights 1 (L. Sleight)

HT 0:0

DRAW specialists Coomera held the previously free-scoring Gold Coast Knights to a tense 1-1 draw on Saturday night, with a late penalty securing a hard-fought point for Steve Beever’s team.

It was Coomera’s fourth stalemate of the campaign but surely a first win isn’t too far away for Beever and his players after another committed performance in game that they may have even won with more sharpness in front of goal.

But it wasn’t all wastefulness that cost Coomera their first victory of the season with Knights ‘keeper Daniel McKinnon producing two outstanding first half saves to keep the scores level at the break.

Coomera also had their new custodian Seamus Murfett to thank for his goal-saving efforts and Beever paid tribute to Murfett, who he says has instilled new confidence in his backline.

“He’s made a tremendous difference to us in terms of conceding goals. He has a presence that makes our defenders comfortable. He pulled off some great saves in the second half,” said Beever.

The Knights turned on the power after the restart and it was no surprise when a sweeping counter attack ended in Luke Sleight heading in the opener just after the midway point of the half.

The visitors were in charge and as the clock ticked down Coomera appeared to be heading for their third defeat of the season. But with just a couple of minutes remaining they were awarded the lifeline their battling performance warranted.

Tony Martinez was dragged back in the box and when the referee pointed to the spot midfielder Martinez dusted himself down and drilled home the resulting penalty.

Beever was naturally delighted with the draw against John Stewart’s powerful outfit and was lavish in his praise for the title challengers who were on a run of three consecutive league wins.

“They’re the best team we’ve played all year without a doubt. They’re physically strong, organised and sharp, so I’m happy with our lads for keeping them to only one goal. Good luck to the Knights; I think they’ll do really well this year,” he said.

“Their goal was a great goal. We’re strong in the air but their big lad outjumped us so credit to him for that. It was a quality build up and finish.”

Stewart was equally complimentary about a Coomera team who may still be searching for their first win of the season but are now undefeated in their last four outings. Only the Knights can boast of a similar record and Stewart knew his players would have to roll their sleeves up to take anything from the match. 

“We played them in the Dog & Parrot FA Cup so we knew it would be a scrap of a game. To be fair to them they battled away and could have been a couple of goals up by half time,” he said.

Stewart continued: “We were better in the second half than the first but we could have done a few things a bit smarter. These results pop up from time to time when you’re playing well but both our approach and effort was good.

“I have no complaints about the performance and I’ve never had to question the effort of these players. There was no complacency, simply that Coomera performed and put us off our rhythm,” he said.