By Logan Marsh

The Douglas United Dragons have rounded off a disappointing season with a 3-2 home loss to Marlin Coast at Cassowary Park on Saturday night.

The result means that the Dragons finish the season in sixth place, missing out on the finals by six points.

It is probably a fair reflection of the season the Dragons have endured, showing plenty of promise at times but ultimately being held back by injuries, unavailability and a lack of dedication from a small number of the squad.

It is still a sign of where the club has come from that a mid table finish is seen as a failure given that three years ago the Club had one second division side.

The match started with Marlin Coast on the front foot with their own finals hopes relying on a convincing win and results going in their favour.

They were quick out of the blocks and pushed the Dragons defence back at times but as the Dragons settled they more than held their own. Coast did take an early lead when a sloppy ball in midfield allowed a cross to the far post where the ball was stabbed past the onrushing Dragons keeper.

It remained 1-0 up until the half time interval although the Dragons finished the half very much on the front foot.

The second half saw Marlin Coast come out looking to build on their advantage and they did go two goals to the good albeit in controversial circumstances. The Marlin Coast linesman failed to keep up with play and missed a clear-cut offside decision that allowed Marlin Coast to double their advantage.

This seemed to spur the Dragons on though and they had soon pulled a goal back when Marty Friars cross field ball was met first time by Tony Chivers.

The ball back across goal took the ex Dragons keeper Christian Mackintosh out of play and allowed Ian Marsh to head the Dragons back into the match.

Soon after Mackintosh had a brain explosion as he picked up a back pass from one of his own players.

From the resulting indirect free kick Gary Cunningham smashed the ball into the wall and after bobbing around like a pin ball the ball finally crossed the line to draw the Dragons level and give Cunningham his first goal of the season and earn him a beer off his good mate Sam Buckler.

The Dragons could not build further on the shift in momentum though and Marlin Coast regathered and pushed again for the winning goal that would offer them a glimmer of hope for finals football. The goal came after some more sloppy Dragons defending however the results left Marlin Coast still missing out on a playoff spot.

Man of the Match for the Dragons was Gary Cunningham who battled well in the middle of the park for much of the match and deserved his goal.

In the early match the Dragons Reserves shrugged off another patch first half performance to run out comfortable 5-1 winners and wrap up third place on the ladder. Danny Ferrero, in his comeback from injury netted twice while there were also goals to Gary Cunningham, Billy Thomson to go with a worldy strike from Henry Ansell whose strike goes to prove that if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try and then try again.

The Dragons semi final will be played at Barlow Park on Saturday afternoon against FNQ Heat in a 2:45pm kick off.