THEY say history doesn’t repeat, but someone forgot to tell Wallis Lake.
We had a good claim to win it and I’m confident the goal should have stood
- Redbacks coach Simon Hancox
The Football Mid North Coast minor premiers inflicted more grand final heartbreak on Camden Haven Redbacks with a controversial 1-0 extra time win on Saturday.
After scores were locked at 0-all after 90 minutes, both sides headed into extra time where Wallis Lake’s Ethan Perry was the deciding factor with a strike worthy of winning a grand final.
That was before some late drama saw the Redbacks awarded a penalty, but Rob Holland’s spot kick was saved.
Redbacks coach Simon Hancox was left to rue another one that got away.
“It was heartbreaking to be honest, but that’s how it goes,” he said.
“Rob Holland had an outstanding game and I’m heartbroken for him because he didn’t deserve that, but the keeper picked the right direction and saved it."
The Redbacks were on the receiving end of another controversial decision in the shadows of full-time in regulation time when they thought they had scored the winner.
The on-field officials had other ideas, leaving Hancox scratching his head.
“We had a good claim to win it and I’m confident the goal should have stood,” he said.
“We’ll have a look at the video, not that it’ll change anything, but it might make me feel better about it. I don’t think there’s anything we could have changed, it just didn’t come up trumps for us unfortunately.”
When asked if there was anything he could have done differently to change the result, Hancox said it just wasn’t their day.
“I think as a coach all you do is look back on it and try and find something that went wrong or something we could have changed,” he said.
“Things like could we have made subs at different times but at the end of the day you don’t like to talk about luck in grand finals, but it was just a bit of bad luck for us.”
The coach said it could be a changing of the guard for the club in the 2017 season, but they’ll dust themselves off and go again.
They have no choice.
“At the end of the day you cant dwell on things that didnt pay off, you’ve just got to start again,” Hancox said.
“I don’t know who will be there next year, whether I’ll be there next year and what players will be there, but you’ve got to start again and see if they can go one better.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the team, they gave it everything yesterday.
“I certainly thought we competed really well, just weren’t quite good enough.”
