Coomera’s bold plan to continue giant-killing

Coomera will tap into the resources of the Gold Coast football fraternity as coach Steve Macdonald devises a plan to continue the Colts’ underdog FFA Cup run.

COOMERA will tap into the resources of the Gold Coast football fraternity as coach Steve Macdonald devises a plan to continue the Colts’ underdog FFA Cup run.

Having already defied expectations to reach the Round of 32, Coomera were handed a golden opportunity to progress on Wednesday night when they avoided A-League opposition and were drawn to face NPL outfit Mackay and Whitsundays.

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The game will be played at Mackay’s Sologinkin Oval at 7.30pm on July 24.

The Magpies Crusaders sit a lowly 12th in the state competition and their quest to reach the Round of 16 could be made more difficult by NPL rivals Gold Coast United and Gold Coast Knights.

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Coomera No.10 Ferdinand Annor. Picture: Mike Batterham

With the north Queensland outfit having already played the Knights twice and with United drawing nil-all with them last Saturday, Macdonald said he would approach the Colts’ fellow Coast clubs for intel on how to plan for the Round of 32 fixture.

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“I’ll definitely be doing the rounds and gathering as much info as possible. I’ll probably speak to Grae (Piddick, Knights coach), Kristian (Rees, United coach) and a few of the players over the next few weeks,” he said.

“(Mackay) play United down here on July 13 so that’s worked out pretty well being able to watch them live. It’s not a bad draw for us.

“Mackay is a difficult place to go but I think we can go there without any fear. It’s a winnable game.”

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Knights president Adrian Puljich said he would be only too willing to aid the Colts’ cup quest.

“We want to support Coomera as far as they can go in the competition. At the end of the day, seeing a grassroots club from clubland fly the flag for our region is massive,” he said.

“Whatever we can do to assist them and provide them with advice and tactical play, we will do that. As far as we’re concerned, I think the opportunity to be in the 32 is great (for them) and the fact they haven’t drawn an A-League team, you’d rather play the Magpies than Melbourne Knights.

“They have a serious opportunity as a grassroots club to make it to the Round of 16. What an achievement that would be.

“They could go further in the cup than some of these A-League clubs.”