Across the Waves defeat Mackay Lions in Australia Cup

Rick Irvine’s Across the Waves tamed the Mackay Lions on Saturday to advance to the next stage of the prestigious Australia Cup, equalling the best ever performance by a Wide Bay team in the national competition.

20/05/2023 - Hayden Lobegeier (left) was a standout for Across The Waves and scored a goal in the 2-1 Australia Cup success over the Mackay Lions. Picture: supplied

Across The Waves will continue to fly the flag for Wide Bay football when they take on Cairns side Edge Hill in the sixth round of the Australia Cup.

Rick Irvine’s side tamed the Mackay Lions on Saturday with a 2-1 success to advance to the next stage of the prestigious national cup competition. The win equals the best ever performance by a Bundaberg or Hervey Bay side in the history of the competition.

Defeat Edge Hill and the Waves will face either Brisbane City or Gold Coast Knights, who will do battle this Wednesday and a win in that game could mean a clash with an A-League side.

A date or venue for the clash with Edge Hill has not yet been confirmed, but Irvine was hoping that Football Queensland sticks with competition rules and the game will be played in Bundaberg.

“In theory it should be played here (in Bundaberg) as the Australia Cup is played on a home and away basis,” Irvine said.

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“But I do believe there are some rules in the competition which allows some changes.

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Hayden Lobegeier speaks to the TV cameras after Across the Waves tamed the Mackay Lions in the Australia Cup.

“We just need to leave that with Football Queensland and our club’s committee to carry out the negotiations.

“But the less travel the better. The longer you need to travel the more difficult it is.

“One of the joys of being the home team is that you don’t have to travel.

“We went all over the place in the competition last year, so it would be nice to get some of the benefits of being the home team this year, that’s for sure.”

Goals from Hayden Lobegeier and Zac Nicholas gave ATW a 2-0 half-time advantage against the Lions at Marten’s Oval.

The visitors scored a late goal to make it an interesting final few minutes but Irvine believed his team were good for the 2-1 win.

“Any time you win is pleasing,” he said.

“I was really happy with how we stuck to our process.

A still from Channel 7 coverage of Across the Waves taming the Mackay Lions in the Australia Cup.

“I thought we played some pretty good footy and our finishing let us down considerably on the weekend.

“We ended up with something like 23 shots on goal but scoring goals is not easy and you can’t get it right all the time.

“No game at this level is going to be easy and hit certainly wasn’t that, but I did feel like, for the most part, we did have that game under control.

“Obviously, when they score a late one you get a bit nervous for the last couple of minutes, but I certainly thought we were the better side on the night.”

Irvine picked out his two centre-backs as standouts.

“Hayden Lobie (Lobegeier) and Simon Quik were outstanding,” he said.

“Hayden scored a banging goal but defensively he was brilliant and he and Simon both did their jobs superbly well.”

Irvine said he was looking forward to the clash with Edge Hill but said that would lead to a fixture congestion towards the end of the season.

“We played them last year in the Queensland Champions League and they are a very good football team,” he said of Edge Hill.

“They are a quality team who play good football, so we know what we will get from them.

“It’s great to win in the Australia Cup but every time you do game we have to reschedule a league game for midweek because there are no free weekends because of Champions League.

“That will continue backing up. So we get to that point now where we will not get a break until we get to finals if we get there.

“It will be testing the depth of the squad and it will be all about putting a side out that can do the job on any given day.”

In the FQPL Wide Bay, meanwhile, KSS Jets have recorded their first win of the campaign with a 3-2 home success over Corinthians.

Coach Peter Guest was happy to have finally broken the drought after some big defeats and praised his young team for sticking to their guns after goals from Lachie Taylor, Ben Sheard and Jordan Dowden secured the tight win.

“The team is developing well and experience is not something that will happen overnight with a young side,” he said.

“The players are starting to gel and we are building combinations.

“It was good to see the young lads perform with minimal mistakes.

“We created plenty of chances and missed some easy opportunities. But it is encouraging to see that we are creating chances.”

In the other game United Park Eagles drew 3-3 with Sunbury Blues.