The Tweed Valley Kings bowed out of the Gold Coast Soccer Premier League finals race with a 1-0 loss to Southport on Saturday night at Reg Dalton Oval, Kingscliff. However, the Premier League Women are due to play in the grand final at Carrara on Saturday afternoon after finishing the league on top of the table and then winning their semi-final to march straight through to their second final in a row. Coach Belinda Dawney said her team were all ready for the clash and, after last year’s loss to Palm Beach, were keen to go one better and take the grand final title. Dawney and her team were on hand on Saturday night to cheer on their male counterparts as they battled to stay in the finals race. However, it was always always going to be a tough ask. The Kings had gone down 5-1 in the first of the two-leg semi-final series at Southport the previous Wednesday and had needed to win by at least 4-0 to keep in the hunt for their first Gold Coast Premier League finals appearance. But it wasn’t to be, with the Kings unable to convert their chances and Southport scoring from a penalty. “We had our chances in the first half,” coach Craig Madden said. “If we’d taken them it would have made it really interesting in the second half. “It was always going to be hard after the Wednesday night game.” The Kings had led the first game 1-0 and the turning point came with the sending off of a Kings player. However, despite the disappointing early end to the season, Madden was full of praise for his side who had finished in second on the ladder, just one point off securing the premiership at the end of the home and away season (more emphasis is placed on being first past the post than on winning the grand final in soccer). It was a massive turn-around for the Kings who narrowly missed relegation last year and Madden said it had been all down to the effort of the players, both on and off the field. “We had a good mix of players,” he said. “There was a bit of experience and a bit of youth; we had some great 17- and 19-year-olds and some very experienced older players. Our main aim had been to make it to the finals. When we did that, we obviously wanted to take it a bit further.” Will he coach next year? Madden said he was yet to speak to officials and to make a decision but he had enjoyed the season. And, while the men’s side is out of the grand final, he said many of the players would still be making the trip north to Carrara. “The girls have been great support,” Madden said. “The Tweed Valley Kings Men’s squad wish the girls all the best, we will be there to support them.”
