From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmake hard work of somethingmake hard work of somethingto make something you are doing seem more difficult than it really is Juventus were making hard work of what should have been an easy game. → hard
Examples from the Corpus
make hard work of something• You can make hard work of an easy job if you don't know the right way to go.• She was making hard work of plucking the goose. 