Yoogali SC was set to battle it out with UC Stars on Saturday afternoon at Ted Scobie Oval in the fourth round of the preliminary stage of the FFA Cup.
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Instead, they will be sitting at home, having progressed through to the quarter-finals without kicking a ball after the Canberra based side decided to forfeit the clash on Tuesday.
Yoogali SC coach Luke Santolin has been left with a bitter taste in his mouth after being informed of the Stars decision.
"It is a slap in the face that these teams, most of who only have to come here once, don't make the effort. It is made worse by the fact they invited us to play there on Saturday, which shows that they have a team and they just couldn't be bothered," he said.
"I probably sound a bit aggressive, but I don't want it to become a pattern where Canberra sides just decide that they have got to go to Griffith that's not worth it. We are worth it come and play us.
"It is a missed opportunity for us as a club, we want to play in front of our fans, family and sponsors and it's the FFA Cup which is a national competition so if you aren't willing to do the work we feel you shouldn't enter in the first place."
The forfeit means the Yoogali side will now enter the pot for the quarter-finals, and Santolin hopes luck can fall their way and land another home tie.
"All is not lost," he said.
"As always, we will find the silver lining like it is an extra week to get some of our injuries right."
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Calvin Roddie and Joe Preece both missed the clash with Gungahlin Juventus, and Santolin was pleased to report they would have been included in the side to take on UC but will know have more time to prepare for their season opener.
"They were both on track to hit the training paddock again this week, and they were available for selection," he said.
"We took it as an opportunity last night with the wet weather to have a bit of a team meeting where we all aligned with the same goals and spoke about what we want out of the season.
" It was good for the boys to look around the room and see the talent that is in the squad.
"We always find the positives out of the negatives, so that's one thing, we get an extra week to recover from injuries, and we did some off the field work on our team."
Yoogali SC will start their NPL2 campaign on Sunday April 11, with a clash at Solar Mad Stadium with Weston Molonglo.
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