The season started so well for Macarthur FC, when the A-League new boys won local football’s version of the FA Cup, the Australia Cup.
Unfortunately, the 2022-23 season did not end as well for the Bulls, who collected the wooden spoon after losing their last game 1-0 to Wellington Phoenix at Campbelltown Stadium on Saturday night.
The Nix went into the game wanting to win to go into the finals with some form behind them.
On the other hand, the Bulls just wanted to avoid the wooden spoon in their third season in the big league of Australian football.
But it was pretty obvious in the first 10 minutes who was playing finals footy and who was up for last place on the ladder.
Indeed the Nix could have scored a couple of goals before they finally got one in the 11th minute off the back of wave after wave of attack.
Bulls goalie Filip Kurto stopped a powerful shot but could not hold on to the ball, which spilled out in front of the goalmouth, presenting the Nix with an easy tap in and the 1-0 lead.
It’s fair to say that the visitors could have doubled or trebled the margin, but some scrambling defence and great goalkeeping from Kurto kept the lead to just one goal.
The home side went on the attack sporadically, but the transition from the back was too slow and the Nix defence had little trouble dealing with it.
There was just too much passing of the ball backwards and sideways by the Bulls back four before someone like Kearyn Baccus would finally go forward.
Except for the last 10 minutes of the second half when Macarthur FC decided to have a red hot go, unsuccesfully as it turned out, the game always seemed out of reach for the home side.
My guess is that there was too much inexperience on the pitch compared with the opposition.
Bulls coach Mile Sterjovski named no fewer than five under 23 players in his starting line up, compared with just two for the New Zealand side.
Jake Hollman, Oliver Jones, Jerry Skotadis, Lachie Rose and Jed Drew are all talented players but their combined inexperience on Saturday night was a contributing factor to the 1-0 defeat.
It’s worth pointing out that there were three more under 23s players on the bench for the Bulls, for a total of eight, which means that at least they’ve got youth on their side going forward.
The rain never stopped falling for the entire match, indeed most of Saturday around Campbelltown, so a shout out to the hardy Bulls fans who turned up on Saturday night, as well as the couple of dozen wearing Nix colours – well done, boys and girls.
As for the wooden spoon, well, the beauty of sport is that there’s always next year.
