Horsham Demons women's football coach has denied playing a defensive game style after a low-scoring match at City Oval on Sunday afternoon.
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In wet conditions, the Demons fell short against South Warrnambool in the Deakin University Female Football League, 1.0 (6) to 0.17 (17).
Horsham's Kate McLean booted the game's only goal in the fourth quarter.
South Warrnambool coach Brenton O'Rourke said Horsham flooded his side's forward line with numbers and made it difficult to score.
"That was my assessment - it was something we hadn't trained for and I never thought it would be played," O'Rourke said.
"I thought Horsham were competitive around the ball and won a lot of the football, and what was apparent was that they didn't have options up the ground.
"That was maybe because they had their numbers in our forward line."
Horsham co-coach Garrett Liston said he did not tell his players to flood the opposition's forward line.
"I strongly disagree with what (O'Rourke) said and I'm disappointed that was his take away from the game," Liston said.
"Our girls were positioned correctly throughout the game, with six in the midfield and six in the back line.
"After the second quarter, we had two injuries and only had 17 players on the ground.
"Early in the last we had another go down, so we finished with 16 on the field, and they continued to play with 18. So we only had four girls in our forward line.
"I thought (O'Rourke's) comments were unwarranted and I didn't think the game needed that."
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O'Rourke said he approached Liston after the match.
"We talked about the standard of the game - there were spectators there and it was a pretty average spectacle," O'Rourke said.
"I said my piece - it wasn't a stoush or anything, it was just communicating.
"That is no indictment of the Horsham players. They showed a lot of ability. It was just the way the game was played perhaps didn't show off their skills."
Liston said he was proud of his side's effort in the difficult conditions.
"It was slippery and wet conditions, a tough day for football, but I was super proud of their effort, their tenacity and their commitment to the sport," Liston said.
"(South Warrnambool) were the better side on the day, nobody is denying that. They hit the post three or four times, so there's no reason they couldn't have kicked multiple goals - their opportunities were there.
"But that has nothing to do with us - from our perspective, we've got Hamilton next week which will be a blockbuster game. It's going to be a good crowd at City Oval and we're hoping for another good, contested match."
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