In state league soccer, Wagga City Wanderers went down 5-2 to Prospect United in Sydney on Saturday, but not without a fight.
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Wanderers were “devastated” 20 minutes into the match, down 3-0, outpaced by Prospect, a team clinical enough to finish all three opportunities they had on goal.
Wanderers fired up in the changerooms and won the second half 2-1, with two Adrien Jolly goals.
“We had a chat, I gave them a spray, we were fairly worked up,” coach Ben Schmid said.
“Down 4-0, it’s easy to go out and say this game’s gone, but credit to the boys, the boys didn’t give up, they showed a lot of character.”
Striker Lachie Davis was a late withdrawal, sick with the flu, and Caylum Barber, under an injury cloud during the week, recovered in time to fill Davis’ position.
Schmid said simple mistakes let them down.
“We gave the ball away too easily, we tried to force it, our first touch was poor, our passing accuracy was poor," he said.
This season, five rounds in, Wanderers’ have been more disciplined.
Players have been shown no red, and seven yellow cards in total, and none are in danger yet of reaching the five-card accumulation that results in a suspension.
“We’ve cleaned it up this year,” Schmid said.
“We don’t pass the blame, don’t let frustration in.”
Wanderers travel to play Hurstville City Minotaurs next Sunday.