Only a last-round 5-4 victory over Port United prevented Kempsey Saints from heading into next season’s Coastal Premier League Men’s campaign on the back of seven-straight losses.
Something that promised so much ended with barely a shot being fired as inconsistency eventually took its toll as Saints begged for the full-time whistle to be blown on their season.
Co-coach Dan Baker admitted it was “pretty disappointing all in all” after the side showed glimpses of potential in the first half of the season.
But the 22-round competition proved a bridge too far where Saints only picked up three points from a possible 21 to round out the season.
“I think we played more of a full season last year where this year we really dropped off in the second half,” Baker said.
“It’s hard to put a finger on [what went wrong], but the first half of the season we played alright football and just didn’t get the results.
“In the second half, it didn’t go our way and we ended up with a lot of injuries and blokes out sick and it snowballed from there.”
Baker also conceded high frustration levels were to blame for the dispiriting way the Kempsey side finished their season.
“That’s why it fell away… everyone was sick of being so inconsistent,” he said.
“We definitely proved in plenty of games that we could match it right up there, but then in other games we fell short when we shouldn’t have.”
A lack of experience and luck were the two main contributing factors for Saints’ disappointing overall season.
And while they didn’t do too much differently in 2022 compared to 2021, the results just weren’t there.
“If I knew (what went wrong), I would have fixed it, but I think it was a lack of player availability a lot of the time and then the other thing is the lack of experience because we had such a young side still,” Baker said.
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