CUP WOE FOR NERANG

Palm Beach 1 (Robinson)

Nerang 0

HT 0:0

PALM Beach ended a turbulent week on a high with a late Sean Robinson goal ensuring their passage into the semi-finals of the Dog & Parrot FA Cup.

Their controversial defeat last week at the hands of Burleigh Heads, coupled with a home stalemate with Musgrave the week before, are now a distant memory as the Sharks hauled themselves into the last four of the cup.

Palm Beach were dealt a blow at the beginning of the second period when Carl Dutton was shown a red card, but coach Adem Poric said his team were rarely troubled throughout the contest against a Nerang side whose form is in free-fall.

“Even when we went down to ten men they never really changed the system or caused us any hassles. Their ‘keeper Jamie Irwin pulled off some good saves to keep them in it and they only really had one good chance to score,” Poric said

He continued: “It was a good performance from the boys and I thought we did well. They only times Nerang caused us problems was when we gave the ball away.”

The winner came with five minutes to go after some good build up play on the right hand side resulted in a cross that bounced back off the upright. Ever alert Robinson was on hand to pounce and fire home the rebound to register a vital goal for his side.

The win was a welcome return to form for Poric’s men after dropping points in their last two league outings, but the Sharks’ boss tipped his side to turn up the heat in the coming weeks.

Poric said: “At the end of the day you get the results you deserve. We didn’t deserve anything against Burleigh recently and we didn’t get anything. We should have beaten Musgrave but were flat in attack and showed no urgency. I think that’ll change over the next couple of weeks because the boys are starting to come together as a team rather than individuals.”

Poric reserved some words of praise for striker Robinson who was delighted to have found the net again after his recent barren spell.

“He’s a striker and relies on confidence like they all do. It’s great that he scored and it’ll do him the world of good.”