Miners bury Spirit

BUNDABERG Toyota Spirit, beaten 2-1 yesterday, seem cursed by Murphy's Law -'What can go wrong will go wrong'.

After two weeks of creditable performances despite high scores against them, the locals were looking forward to their first win of the season against fellow cellar dwellers, Whitsunday Miners.

It was at some stage during the week that Mr Murphy dealt the Spirits a crippling blow to their aspirations.

Captain and senior player Brett Kitching was ruled out with a leg injury, strike weapon Arian Dubroy was struck down by illness and midfielder Mitch Broom succumbed to an injury.

The team already knew the experienced Matt Doolan was unavailable for selection.

Earlier hopes that senior Archem players Laurie Stephenson and Peter Bock might be available were dashed when they were ruled out.

Despite these setbacks, the resilient Spirit team travelled to Mackay bolstered by Bingera players, Luke Metcalf and Scott McEwan.

The match was an arm wrestle before Shane Youngberry scored the first goal in the 20th minute for the visitors.

“We created a couple of good opportunities for ourselves, but couldn't convert them to points,” coach Brett Hambrecht said.

“They had their opportunities too, but our defence held strong.”

The Miners scored the equaliser just before half-time, and the struggle continued until the 80th minute when the home team scored the decider.