In the sporting world, sometimes opposition teams are just too good.
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Such was the case for the OVAFC Mushies on Saturday during their Australia Cup clash against the Coffs Coast Tigers - who coach Tim Coates dubbed "the best team I've come across".
"They were quality across the pitch, very well-drilled, and we didn't execute what we said we were going to do as a group," Coates said.
"So the outcome was a good learning curve for us."
By the end of the game at Tamworth's Gipps Street Sports Field, the score was 9-2 in favour of the visitors.
The Mushies played with heart, but were outclassed by a faster, highly-skilled Tigers outfit, who Coates said had been the yardstick of the Northern NSW competition.
"The coastal teams are a benchmark, I think them and Coffs City are the best two teams over there in that coastal premier league," he said.
After winning their first two games, the Mushies will now not progress through to round six.
In spite of their exit from the competition, Coates is still happy with their performance as a whole.
"That team wasn't the team that played First Grade regularly for us last year," he said.
"We as a playing group made the decision to stick with the boys who went to Boambee [in round four, where the Mushies scored a 7-0 win].
"We stuck with the boys who'd travelled for the first two games, and half of them played Reserve Grade last year, so the step up for them was a big one.
"But I thought, overall in three games, they did quite well."
While a sound defeat was certainly an inopportune way for OVAFC to close out their Australia Cup campaign, Coates is happy knowing the side will be better for the experience.
"We're just going to go back to training and have a rethink about what we need to do," he said.
"The boys had a big chat amongst themselves after the game, which is great, and they took some learnings from the game and we'll go forward from there."
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