Northern Tigers Roaring up the ladder
Northern Tigers’ rise to outright second on the PlayStation 4 National Premier Leagues’ 2 NSW Men’s competition is just reward for their work ethic and tenacity.
The Tigers have always been one of the stronger clubs in the second tier but this season there seems to be something special going on up at North Turramurra on Sydney’s upper north shore.
After a mixed run of results in the early stages of the season, people first started taking notice of the Tigers when in Round 7 they upset unbeaten league leaders Western Sydney Wanderers 2-1 at Sydney United Sports Centre.
Tigers’ coach Mark McCormick said he was pleased with his side’s discipline and praised his charges for taking the game to the Wanderers, instead of sitting back.
“They were fantastic from the first minute,” McCormick said of his team.
“We set out to play in a specific way and we had a go at them. Most teams sit back and drop off and we wanted to express ourselves and we did that.”
McCormick was also happy with his side’s courage, discipline and willingness to create chances.
“We took a 2-0 lead and hit the post twice,” he said. “We were defensively disciplined in the second half and well organised. Technically the Wanderers are fantastic and they have some brilliant players that I’d pay money to watch, they’re that good. They’re the best team we’ve played by miles.”
Despite their win over the Wanderers, people still doubted the Tigers’ pedigree, with many questioning whether their victory was simply a one-off or even a fluke.
But a few weeks later, McCormick’s band of young men put those thoughts to rest when they caused an even bigger boil over, this time a 5-2 pounding of Marconi Stallions, a side boasting the best and most experienced squad in the competition.
In a match that McCormick said his side dominated from start to finish, Tigers’ striker Ryan Peterson grabbed a hat-trick and Ally Brown scored twice, shocking the Premiership favourites to the souls of their feet.
“We dominated from start to finish and although they scored first we led 4-1 at halftime,” McCormick told Football NSW. “We just moved them around and played our game and it worked for us. Our lead at halftime was deserved.”
But despite leading 4-1 at the break, McCormick knew the Stallions would “throw the kitchen sink” at his side in the second half.
“They came out and played direct in the second half, and we went toe to toe with them,” McCormick said.
“We had the domination but we also had the steel and the grit when it was required. That was definitely what was most pleasing.”
McCormick also stressed that while striker Ryan Peterson scored a hat-trick and Ally Brown grabbed two goals, the victory was based on a solid team performance, one that not only impressed the Tigers’ coach, but also the opposition.
“When you’re opposing a team that has a former international (Michael Beauchamp) and six former Hyundai A-League players, players who’ve played at the highest level of the game, and they come up to me and our players and say that we thoroughly deserved the win and we were better than them all over the field, is fantastic,” McCormick said. “It was a proud day to be associated with my boys.”
So what’s McCormick’s secret to success? Why are his Tigers roaring so loud?
“There is no secret,” the Glaswegian replied.
“The players work hard. They want to come to training and they want to work hard. They trust the coaching staff and there are a lot of people around the club who are working hard at different levels. My assistant coach; the technical director and 20s coach, we’re all trying to get the Tigers into the best possible position we can take the club and everyone’s buying into that.
“If you come and sit on the (first grade) bench from 18s or 20s they’re buying into it. Even the players who’ve been on the bench and haven’t been getting a lot of playing time have been fantastic, they’ve really worked their backsides off to put themselves in this position and they deserve to be where they are now.”
But as always, the canny Scot refuses to get ahead of himself.
“It’s halfway through the season and we’ve not achieved anything yet,” McCormick told Football NSW.
“And there’s a lot of really good teams in the competition. If we want to make the playoffs we’re going to have to be at our best over the next 13 weeks. We’ve had a lot of luck and two very positive results in the last couple of weeks (Spartans and Marconi) and while we’re really excited we’re not going to get carried away.
“We’ve lost points to teams that are in the lower half of the league and I don’t take that lightly because the lower half of the league is only four or five points behind where we are right now. So all it takes is for you to have a loss and a draw and you’re behind again.”
So who is the backbone of the side?
“Jordan Ferrier has been excellent for us,” McCormick said.
“And in the last couple of weeks we’ve had the club captain Michael Rolston come back. Jamie Craig is another one who epitomises what we’re about. Traditionally he’s a left back and we’ve encouraged him to get in the box more. He scored two goals against the Spartans. Jamie’s the kind of player who rocks up to training and gives it everything he’s got. All the guys love him and that’s what our young group’s about.
“We’ve got some guys who’ve been around the league but we’ve also got younger boys coming through and are finally developing. The senior guys are teaching them what it means to win in this league. Every single victory that we’ve had has been a battle. And anyone that’s got any points in this league knows that. You can’t back off at all.
“It’s exciting when you look at it (the closeness of the league) but it’s also very stressful for the coaches. Every week it’s the same, you can’t take it easy any week because everyone can beat everyone. To get to where we are at this stage of the season, we’ve virtually played 13 cup finals.”
Thirteen down. Another 13 to go.
-By Derek Royal, Football NSW Reporter
