MANGOPLAH-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes were left searching for answers after going down to Leeton-Whitton in Saturday’s qualifying final.
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The Goannas led at half-time and three-quarter-time only to go down by 25 points.
They now face sudden death football for three consecutive weeks if they are to win the premiership.
MCUE co-coach Travis Cohalan was disappointed as the Goannas produced their worst half of football for the year to finish in defeat.
“It’s just disappointment I suppose,” Cohalan said.
“In it at half-time and then, it’s been a bit of a problem all year, just not consistent enough over the full four quarters and we just didn’t come out the right way after half-time, to be honest.
“Everything we said we wanted to do at half-time, we basically did the opposite, especially in the first 10 minutes of the third quarter. We were probably lucky they didn’t kick a few more goals, they did miss some very easy shots.
“Our accountability and our pressure, which was good in the first half, didn’t come out after half-time until it was too late.”
Cohalan is confident the Goannas will be able to bounce back next week, regardless of the opposition.
“We’ll stay positive. When we play our best footy, we have beaten every team in the comp. We have been able to beat every other team so whoever we play next week we go in confident and will back ourselves in
“Next week’s another week.
“We did well to finish in the top three and give ourselves another chance.”
Rogers, Creasy in doubt for semi
MCUE will have to call on their depth in next Sunday’s first semi-final in Griffith.
The Goannas lost Stace Creasy to a hamstring injury in Saturday’s loss to Leeton-Whitton, while the availability of Dusty Rogers is in serious doubt.
Rogers was red-carded at the eight minute mark of the final quarter and reported for allegedly kneeing his Leeton-Whitton opponent.
It was a costly mistake from Rogers as it left the Goannas a man down for the remainder of the game. They were trailing by five points at the time of the incident.
Rogers has been suspended twice this year and that will have an impact on any potential penalties.
The double blow comes on top of Jared Kahlefeldt hurting his hamstring at training last Thursday night.
He hopes to be right for Sunday, while Pat Killalea and Nathan Hunter are also potential inclusions for the sudden-death final at Exies Oval.
