In the aftermath of their match against Alstonville FC, the OVA Mushies players gathered at Johnson Field on Saturday were dejected.
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The most successful soccer team that Northern Inland Football has seen in recent years came up against a team that coach Tim Coates knew would pose a significant challenge in their first game of the 2024 Australia Cup.
And even when leading 3-1 at half time, Coates knew they were not out of danger.
So when Alstonville found their fourth goal with three minutes of regular time remaining, Coates could do nothing but congratulate the better team on the day.
"I'm proud of the boys," he said.
"We had most of our best players available, so no excuses on our end. We knew we were in for a tough game, they're a good side. They made it to round five or six last year."
It was a highly tactical affair, in which OVA came in with a strict game plan which worked at first.
But Alstonville's relentlessness paid off towards the end of the game and allowed them to score three goals in the second half for a 4-3 victory.
"They just kept on coming," Coates said.
"We did well to have them at 3-1 at half time, we scored two minutes before half time, but I said 'We need to score the next goal to put them away'."
On the sidelines after the final whistle had blown, Coates needed just two words to describe how his players were feeling - "Very tired".
So demanding was the game, he said, that even Riley Russell (normally one of the fittest in the squad) had cramped badly in the second half.
In spite of the tough loss, there was one noteworthy bright spot in the match for OVA: the debut of Cameron Weir.
The new recruit scored two of the Mushies' three goals and impressed with his knack for finding the back of the net.
While the Mushies were disappointed to have lost a match in which they were ahead, Coates did not lose sight of the bigger picture.
Alstonville are a very good side and were coming off a win over Woolgoolga United, another team who is usually competitive in the Australia Cup.
So to have spent a good chunk of the game ahead, and pushed Alstonville to the limit, bodes well for the rest of their 2024 campaign.
"It says volumes about where we're at and what we're doing," Coates said.
