The Douglas United Dragons have begun the defence of their Far North Queensland Football title with a 4-2 loss to title favourites Mareeba at Borzi Park on Saturday night.

It was a tight contest for the first hour or so but then Mareeba’s superior fitness told and they came home with the wind in their sails to capture the three points.
 
The match started at a hectic pace with Mareeba creating a couple of early chances. After withstanding the initial pressure from the Bulls, the Dragons went about getting a foothold in the game.

After a period of parity the deadlock was broken when the Mareeba keeper spilt the ball at the feet of Jamie Gosling who keep his nerve to calmly round the keeper and tuck the ball home with his left peg.
 
The Dragons lead was short lived however as an incisive Mareeba move saw them surge into the box, and a slight nudge from Ian Marsh was enough for the referee to point to the spot much to the Dragons' disgust.

The penalty was coolly tucked away and the scores were level again. It quickly got worse for the Dragons as from the kick off the ball was given away cheaply.

Mareeba were in no mood to let the mistake go unpunished and within the space of about fifteen seconds the Dragons had gone from 1-0 up to 2-1 down. It could have been worse for the Dragons but for a couple of excellent saves from keeper Christian MacKintosh.
 
One of the great characteristics of last year's side was the way they fought back from losing positions, and this year's side showed signs of having the same attitude and determination as once again they pushed Mareeba back, putting them under pressure and forcing them to abandon the neat, short passing game.

Eventually this pressure resulted in another mistake and when the ball broke to Daniel Bateman he was through on goal. The big striker showed excellent composure to again round the keeper and stick the ball into the empty net and draw the Dragons level as it remained until halftime.
 
The second half began evenly with both sides creating chances although the Dragons probably had the better of these with a couple of one on ones going to waste. They had a huge cry for a penalty but the handball foul was adjudged to have taken place outside the area.

Minutes later the Dragons had an even better shout for a penalty when Luke Finnie was bundled over in the area only for the referee to wave play on, even insinuating that Finnie had dove to the fury of the Douglas players.
 
Heading into the final twenty minutes the game was evenly poised, however the Dragons were beginning to visibly tire. First Gosling, then Ollie Ward were replaced suffering from cramp, and with many of the others struggling with the pace of the match holes began to open up and runs were not being tracked.

From one such instance a last ditch block resulted in a corner, which was bundled home by ex Melbourne Heart player Wayne Shroj as the Dragons failed to clear their lines.
 
With time ticking away the Dragons were again the victim of leaden legs as Mareeba broke quickly. MacKintosh saved the first shot from a narrow angle but could do nothing about the follow as Mareeba took a 4-2 lead that they would hold until the fulltime whistle.

While the result was not the one the Dragons were after, the performance, for seventy minutes at least, was promising considering this was the first time this group of players had played a competitive fixture together. The squad will only get stronger in the coming weeks with players awaiting clearances and the return of Ollie Moffat from last year's Premiership winning side.
 
The Man of the Match award went to captain Nick Tither who put in a colossal performance at centre half and later in the middle of the park. He put himself about well, used the ball intelligently and kept fighting to the end.

Keeper MacKintosh also had an outstanding debut while there were encouraging signs from all of the other seven debutants including Douglas Junior Yuttana Taotong (Mew) who made his first appearance for the club at that level.
 
Next up for the Dragons is a trip to Tiger Park to take on Edge Hill. The lads will be confident of picking up their first points of the season and getting the ball rolling for 2013.