Coomera coach Steve Macdonald says new midfield pair and greater depth will cover Attilio Asante loss

THE departure of midfield weapon Attilio Asante has left Coomera to fill arguably the Gold Coast Premier League’s biggest hole, but coach Steve Macdonald believes he has found the answer.

THE departure of midfield weapon Attilio Asante has left Coomera to fill arguably the Gold Coast Premier League’s biggest hole, but coach Steve Macdonald believes he has found the answer.

Having defied all expectations to finish sixth last season, the Colts stepped up preparations for the new campaign with a comfortable 4-0 win over Virginia United in Round 2 of the FFA Cup yesterday.

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While returning Frenchman Ferdinand Annor starred with a hat-trick, the performances of midfield recruits Payden Pemberton and Slayde Scriggins were equally important.

With Asante gone, the engine-room responsibilities have fallen to Canadian import Pemberton and Scriggins, who has returned to Viney Park after a season away.

Italian Attilio Asante (right) has left Coomera. Picture: Mike Batterham

While Macdonald conceded replacing Asante was near impossible, he said the club’s improved depth would help cover for the Italian as they look ahead to their Premier League opener against Mudgeeraba next Sunday.

“It’s difficult to fill that void, you can only cover Will (Asante) so much. We’ve not necessarily replaced him but overall we’ve got stronger,” Macdonald said.

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“We’ve lost Will but we’ve gained a couple of very good midfielders. I’m hoping them two (Pemberton and Scriggins) can help fill the void of Will as a combination.

“Overall I think we’re going to be a little bit stronger than last year, we’ve definitely got more depth which was a killer last year. We got a few injuries and just didn’t have the depth to fill the void.”

Colts Gold Coast Premier League coach Steve MacDonald.

Coming off a 4-2 loss to Logan Lightning in their last pre-season trial, Macdonald said their FFA Cup triumph was a step in the right direction.

“The boys did OK, it wasn’t great but we’re where I expect us to be at this stage of the season. We’ve got a couple more boys coming back from injuries and things next week too.

“Everybody wants to have a good cup run. We do take it serous, yesterday was the first time I didn’t make substitution after substitution after substitution.

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“It was a competitive game and that’s the way we treated it. We expect to win the next round and then the round after that is when the QPL and BPL teams join in.”

In other Round 2 results on Saturday, a Teddy Watson hat-trick helped Surfers Paradise thrash Kingscliff 6-1, while Robina City broke their cup duck with a 6-3 victory over Logan Roos.