Playing in only their second game in five weeks proved a hurdle too much for the Upper Macleay Yowies, as they suffered a 2-1 defeat to the Lake Cathie Raiders in the Men's Northern League grand final on Saturday.
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Yowies coach Martin Ring admits his side was sluggish in the first half, which finished with the scores locked nil-all, before the match exploded into life in the second half.
Paddy Dixon put the Yowies in the lead after he scored after Darren Cameron-Love's shot at goal was deflected to him.
The Yowies continued to press and were unlucky not to receive a penalty when the ball appeared to be hand balled by the Raiders inside their own box.
As the match wore on, the Yowies' players became more drained and the Raiders took control.
The Raiders levelled the scores with 15-minutes remaining before they received a penalty in the final 5-minutes when a Yowies player was ruled to have hand balled inside the box.
The Raiders made no mistake in converting from the spot and they held on for victory.
Ring was disappointed his side wasn't able to claim the victory, after entering the game undefeated since round four.
"They were basically on top of us in the first half and we were lucky to be in the game at half-time," he said.
"We hadn't had much game time and you could tell we were a bit sluggish.
"But we dug deep in the second half and played much better and it was disappointing not to come away with the win after a classy season."
Ring said the Yowies will lose a fair chunk of their players at the end of this season but they are expecting to welcome more juniors back to the club for the 2020 season.
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