WALLIS Lake coach Brian Tyrrell is confident his side will be able to maintain their great end-of-season form in the Football Mid North Coast Premier League grand final against Port United at Port Macquarie Regional Stadium tomorrow evening.
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The game is timed to kick off at 7.30 and will be the first time the grand final has been played at night.
Tyrrell admits he initially has reservations about a night match and he wasn’t sure how side players would adapt.
“But we played the replay against Macleay on Tuesday night at Taree and it didn’t seem to worry the boys,’’ he said of the 5-1 win his side scored.
Wallis Lake finished the competition-proper in fifth place on goal differential. They’ve since won three sudden death matches, beating Taree, Port Saints and Macleay Valley.
“We’ll be underdogs but that doesn’t worry us – we weren’t expected to win any of our games (in the finals),’’ he said.
Tyrrell added playing Port United at Port Macquarie shouldn’t be a factor, as his side hasn’t been at home for a month.
The final against Macleay was abandoned in the second half by the referee following an incident involving players, spectators and officials. The the matter will now be handled by the judiciary. Tyrrell said his side won’t be impacted by any ruling the judiciary might make.
“We haven’t received any breach notices,’’ he said.
He said his side controlled most of the final this week, taking an early 2-0 lead and looking sharp from the kick off.
“They scored a goal and then started to get on top,’’ Tyrrell said.
However, the halftime break was good for Wallis. A couple of goals soon after the resumption sealed the result.
“In the end we were probably a bit unlucky not score score seven or eight goals,’’Tyrrell noted.
Wallis will be without one player for the grand final – Mitch Lewis – who left for Switzerland yesterday on holidays.
Tyrrell said Roan Whiteman, who scored three goals against Macleay on Tuesday, will be a key player who can turn a game when in the mood. He added that six players are backing up from last year’s grand final so there’s a solid nucleus of experience there.
Wallis haven’t beaten Port United this season but Tyrrell said that won’t count for anything tomorrow.
United finished third on the ladder before beating Port Saints and Macleay in the finals series.
Kempsey Saints and Tuncurry-Forster will play the reserve grade with the game kicking off at 5.15.
Kempsey Saints finished minor premier.