Southport backing 2019 Coast League One heroes ahead of Gold Coast Premier League return
Southport are backing last season’s Coast League One heroes to continue their upward trajectory in 2020, with coach Rob Semple confident his young squad can “make it difficult” for rivals in their Gold Coast Premier League return.
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SOUTHPORT are backing last season’s Coast League One heroes to continue their upward trajectory in 2020, with coach Rob Semple confident his young squad can “make it difficult” for rivals in their Gold Coast Premier League return.
Not seen in Football Gold Coast’s top flight since 2013, the Warriors booked their ticket back to the Premier League with a top-two Coast League finish last season before edging out Robina City in the grand final.
Despite losing veteran defender Corey Young to retirement, their squad remains largely unchanged ahead of their March 7 opener away to Burleigh Heads and Semple insisted that was a positive.
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“We have made big steps in the last 18 months. We’ve never pushed to attract players, we wanted to stay loyal to the squad that got us into the Premier League,” Semple said.
“We want to be competitive this year. We’ve probably got an average age of 23 so we’re a pretty young squad. Majority of them are Southport juniors too, which is good.
“We’re not fortunate to have the Premier League experience (of other clubs) but since we’ve had this group we’ve played about five Premier League teams in trial games and remained unbeaten.
“At the moment the aim is to remain in the Premier League and build from that. We want to be tough to beat at home. We’re going to make it difficult for other teams.”
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The ace up their sleeve is Morgan Saunders, who helped Gold Coast Knights claim the 2018 Premier League double.
The towering striker then won last season’s Coast League Golden Boot before emerging as the Warriors’ grand-final hero with two late goals.
Having recommitted to the club for 2020, Saunders now shapes as a crucial figure when Southport host Kingscliff in Round 3 of the FFA Cup at 4pm on Saturday.
“We’ve managed to retain Morgan, which is a big bonus for us because I know Gold Coast United were after him. I’d say we’ve probably got 90 per cent of the squad form last year,” Semple said.
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“We’re really glad to get a home tie (on Saturday). Kingscliff will make it tough for us and it will give us an idea of where we’re at.”
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