WALLIS Lake coach Brian Tyrrell is confident his side will be able to maintain their great end-of-season form in the Football Mid North Coast Premier League grand final against Port United at Port Macquarie Regional Stadium.
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The game is timed to kick off at 7.30pm and will be the first time the grand final has been played at night.
Tyrrell admits he initially has reservations about a night match and he wasn’t sure how side players would adapt.
“But we played the replay against Macleay on Tuesday night at Taree and it didn’t seem to worry the boys,’’ he said of the 5-1 win his side scored.
Wallis Lake finished the competition-proper in fifth place on goal differential. They’ve since won three sudden death matches, beating Taree, Port Saints and Macleay Valley.
“We’ll be underdogs but that doesn’t worry us – we weren’t expected to win any of our games (in the finals),’’ he said.
The final against Macleay was abandoned in the second half by the referee following an incident involving players, spectators and officials. The the matter will now be handled by the judiciary. Tyrrell said his side won’t be impacted by any ruling the judiciary might make.
“We haven’t received any breach notices,’’ he said.
Wallis will be without one player – Mitch Lewis – who left for Switzerland yesterday on holidays.
Tyrrell said Roan Whiteman, who scored three goals against Macleay on Tuesday, will be a key player who can turn a game when in the mood. He added that six players are backing up from last year’s grand final so there’s a solid nucleus of experience there.
Wallis haven’t beaten Port United this season but Tyrrell said that won’t count for anything tomorrow.
United finished third on the ladder before beating Port Saints and Macleay in the finals series.
Kempsey Saints and Tuncurry-Forster Tigers will play the reserve grade with the game kicking off at 5.15.
