By Tara Murray
Green Gully’s Australia Cup run came to an end in the cruellest manner losing to Dandenong Thunder on penalties on Tuesday night.
The Cavaliers, who have started to find some form in recent weeks, pushed the third placed National Premier League side all game.
Neither team scored during regular time and it was still the case after an extra 30 minutes.
The Thunder managed to get the job 4-2 on penalties.
Cavaliers coach David Chick said it was disappointing to get that far and lose on penalties.
“It was a flip of a coin,” he said. “They are a really good side and third in the league.
“We worked really hard and it was what we asked of them, and you can’t ask for much more.”
Having spent 120 minutes on the field on Tuesday night, the two teams then faced each other on Friday night in the NPL, after deadline.
Chick said before that game it was a weird situation.
“Being a part time league, the amount of time we get between games isn’t long,” he said.
“We have to look at other things not on the park to initiate ways to win.
“We both played a lot of minutes and have a few players that might miss with injury.
“We need to find an edge tactically and communicate that without being able to train.
“It should be a similar game to Tuesday night with some twists.”
After a slow start to the NPL season, the Cavaliers have started to find their feet. It beat ladder leaders Avondale, 5-2, in its round 13 match.
Chick said they could feel they were starting to find their feet and shown they could match it with the top sides.
“The position we were in last year would be a relegation spot this year,” he said. “It’s a bit of a building block.
“New manager, new staff and it was going to take time to work together and get on the same page.
“We knew it would be a slow start but we knew we would have a good team. We didn’t know how long it would take, and it doesn’t rest for anyone.”
The recent results have moved the Cavaliers into eighth spot heading into the weekend’s matches, which were after deadline.
They were three points outside the top six.
Chick said for them it was about being consistent.
“We’ve put some results together,” he said. “It comes down to hard work and persistent.
“We need consistency week in, week out.
“That’s always been the focus. We’ve shown it in patches in games and had good spells.
“We need to do that for 90 minutes. We’ve had a great 30 minutes, but you need the next 60 minutes to win.”
