Mosman coach Luke Tinker said it’s been so long since Mosman FC’s been top of the MWFA ladder that no-one at the club can remember when they were last in the lofty position. But after coming away with three points from a hard-fought and gripping 1-0 win over Harbord at Harbord Park on Saturday, top of the table is where Mosman sits.
And it seems Tinker intends to enjoy it.
“I said to our President [Richard Pike] we should be celebrating even being joint top [with CC Strikers]. We beat Pittwater this year for the first time in 10 years. We’ve been bottom three for the last five years. Mosman’s never won the league. No-one can even remember when we were on top!” Tinker said.
Tinker came into the top role at Mosman two years ago motivated to change the club’s “winning mentality and culture”. It appears to be working. Games Mosman may have dropped in recent years they’re now “getting over the line”, according to Tinker.
The 1-0 win over Harbord illustrates their season perfectly.
“We showed great discipline in defence while still creating chances,” Tinker said. “We’ve had a togetherness all season and it’s a chemistry that’s been getting us over the line each week. It would’ve been nice to score from open play as well as the penalty, we created several good chances. It would’ve been nice to put the game to bed. As it was Harbord came hard at the end and we had to fight to the 90th minute to keep them out.”
Best for Mosman included experienced goalkeeper Scott Bagnall who’s been at the club since he was ten. Elsewhere centre half James Bell was defensively sound as was central defensive midfielder Finn Mack.
Asked for his match highlight Tinker laughed: “The final whistle! Our goalkeeper made some key saves in the final minutes. We also had plenty of good passages of play.”
Harbord captain Eddie Goodall said Mosman “were well structured from their backline through to their forwards, they played great counter attacking football”.
“Our coach [Paul Mulligan] was pleased, we most certainly gave them a run for their money. We missed a few clear-cut opportunities and a point would have been fitting. We were hard to break down and Mosman got lucky with an early penalty that they capitalised on and managed to grind out the win,” Goodall said.
By Matt Cleary
