THE FNQ Bulls' inability to finish chances was exposed again on Saturday night when they went down 1-0 to the Whitsunday Miners in their Queensland State League clash in Mackay.

The lone goal of the contest came in the 72nd minute when Miners forward Michael van Moolenbroek headed home a cross despite the attention of four Bulls defenders.

It was a frustrating and disappointingly familiar result for the Bulls, with coach Peter Tokesi in no doubt as to which team was superior. "They (the Miners) had an early chance after 10 minutes with a free kick that hit the upright and there second chance was the goal," he said.

"It was just one of those games. You keep thinking, ‘we’re going to score any minute, we’re going to score any minute’, but when you don’t that’s when it gets really frustrating.

"We dominated for long periods of play but we couldn’t score.

"With us, if Steve (striker Steve Cater) has an off day we tend to struggle.

"We played well but we still lost and for a coach, that’s hard to swallow."

But amid the gloom of another loss, there were still bright spots for the Bulls as they look towards 2010.

Tokesi was impressed with the contributions of under-18 players Aaron Bull and Cameron Morrison, particularly the latter who started at left fullback in place of the suspended Kane Alderton.

"I thought he worked hard the whole match and, at the start, was even pushing forward and putting in a few balls behind," he said.

"I put on Aaron for the last 15 minutes and he also did quite well, which was pleasing to see."

The other good news for the Bulls was that all players finished the match without injury.

WHITSUNDAY MINERS 1 (Michael van Moolenbroek 72’) d FNQ BULLS 0

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