Battle of the Big Cats
April 20, 2022 NCF
Three words proved pivotal for Coffs United before they went on to score three second half goals in their 3-1 win over Coffs Tigers in their Coastal Premier League Men's match on Tuesday night.
With coach Glenn Williams away on the Gold Coast on holidays, Lions assistant coach Adam Woods asked his players to trust the process in the halftime huddle despite trailing 1-0 at the break.
It had the desired effect with Joel Hampson, Lorenzo Rigoni and Nick Mallet all finding the back of the net after Innocent David had opened the scoring for the Tigers in the opening 45 minutes.
"We went to the break down 1-0, but (the coaching staff) said 'trust the process' because if [Tigers] go down one, they're going to go down a few because they'll start chasing and that's what happened," Woods said.
"It's very, very rare that we get kept scoreless. It's very, very rare because we've got all these guys who can score goals so for a team to keep us scoreless they've basically got to park a bus and Tigers aren't like that.
"We knew we'd have a goal in us, it was just a matter of if it was one or two or three."
Woods said the Lions tried to control the pace of the game in the first half and had been dragged into the Tigers style of play which didn't work.
He said their cross-town rivals were still a good side although once Coffs City settled into the game they were only troubled on a handful of occasions.
"[Tigers] kept the ball for long periods of time, but they kept it in areas where we wanted them to keep it and when they got around the 18-yard box that's when we pressed a little bit quicker," Woods said.
"When the ball was on halfway, we weren't overly concerned with them playing it left to right or what not but when they got in behind us is when we got worried, but they didn't do that a lot.
"They're a speedy, good, young side and we knew that coming into the game."
Tigers coach Luke Stow wasn't disappointed about the result.
"I'm not disappointed; I still think we've got a fair way to learn and I think they were definitely fitter, there's no doubt about that but I wouldn't say I'm disappointed," he said
"We're still learning to play as a team, mate, to be honest.
"I think it's about more time together and actually getting on the training pitch to work on how we want to attack games with the process and getting it in place.
"That's important," he said.
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