A seven-goal thriller at Sunshine Coast Stadium has seen the Fire crowned Premiers for a third time, after claiming a 4-3 victory over the Brisbane Strikers in an at times spiteful encounter.
Needing only a draw against the second-placed Strikers to win the title, the Fire nevertheless went on the attack early, rushing to a 3-1 lead at the break. Although the Strikers rallied in the second half, the dismissal of defender Nick Robinson killed off their resistance, and the Fire held on for a 4-3 triumph.
As is often the case, there was no holds barred from the opening whistle as both sides looked to stamp their authority on the game. The visitors had the better of the opening exchanges, with Sean Burke forcing an acrobatic save out of Antony Hall with a sweetly struck shot from just outside the penalty area.
After a nervy start from the Fire, the team began to look most comfortable on the ball and were rewarded on 10 minutes with a goal from nothing. Leon Dwyer won possession 25 yards out from the Strikers goal, catching their defenders off guard. Dwyer then slipped a simple through ball to Jason Hicks, who let Strikers keeper Brendan White commit himself before chipping the ball past him from 12 yards.
Against the run of play, the Fire had made the Strikers task all the more difficult, and looked to capitalise in the following minutes. Both sides were tackling ferociously, with Chris Maher issued a yellow card for a challenge on James Stinson soon after.
While the Fire were beginning to find their feet in midfield, Brisbane went close to levelling the scores when Chris Di Sipio raced to the byline and sent in a low cross, but there were no Brisbane players on hand to knock it into the net.
On 25 minutes, the task got even tougher for Brisbane when a devastating counter attack from the Fire lead to a second goal. A fluid move down the left flank saw Sam Knight release Jason Hicks, who sent in a cross from the byline towards Tyson Holmes. Although White produced a strong block to save Holmes’ powerful shot, Gareth Musson pounced on the rebound and made his former club pay with the second goal of the match.
The Sunshine Coast almost had a third seconds later, when Holmes knocked a header to the advantage of Leon Dwyer, who flashed a volley at goal from 20 yards out. White snatched the ball out of the air to deny Dwyer.
The Strikers had no choice but to throw caution to the wind after the Fire’s second goal, and were looking to attack directly whenever possible. A long cross into the penalty area from Nick Robinson had Antony Hall scrambling, but Hall managed to punch the ball away before Sean Burke could get his head to it.
After 37 minutes of play, the Strikers gave themselves a sniff of hope when a long free-kick into the box eluded the Fire’s defenders, with Burke on hand to take possession and beat Hall at his near post from close range. After looking assured in defence for most of the match, the goal would have been a bitter blow for the Fire.
Minutes later, the Fire made amends when the influential Dwyer ran onto a long ball and moved into the penalty area, striking a low shot past White who got a hand to the ball but couldn’t keep it out of the net.
With the score now 3-1, Holmes almost added to the scoreline when his well-struck free-kick on the left wing cleared the crossbar by a foot.
After the half-time break frustrations were beginning to boil over for the Strikers. With the visitors needing to find the net three times to claim the Premiership, the Fire seemed content to keep players behind the ball and harass the Strikers into making mistakes. After an hour of play, rain started to fall and possession got sloppier from both sides.
The contest was all but sealed on 62 minutes when Jason Hicks picked up his second goal of the match. On the counter-attack, Musson and Holmes combined before picking out Hicks on the left flank, with the forward settling on his left foot before shooting from 20 yards. The low shot skidded on the sodden pitch, and although White got a hand to it, the ball still bounced off the right post and crossed the line.
With 20 minutes to play, a powerful 25 yard free-kick from Nick Robinson beat Hall in goal for the Fire, making the score 4-2 and again giving the Strikers a glimmer of hope. The Fire almost produced the perfect response minutes later, when Holmes blasted a shot into the underside of the crossbar from inside the penalty area.
The contest was put to bed after 76 minutes when Robinson was issued a second yellow card, when he flung the ball away in frustration after what he thought was a poor refereeing decision.
In the closing minutes, the Sunshine Coast looked to maintain their discipline and broke down the Strikers moves time and time again, as the tiring visitors kept chipping away. As three minutes of injury time started, Myles Carseldine found Sean Burke unmarked on six yards, and the forward knocked in his second of the night to make scores 4-3.
Although Brisbane had tried valiantly, the final whistle sounded to the delight of the Fire’s players and supporters, who could now celebrate a third HQSL title in the competition’s four year history.
Richard Hudson was delighted to come out on top in an entertaining, free-scoring decider.
“We were a little bit special tonight, and to do it when the pressure’s on, it means a lot. The boys stood up tonight, and everybody played their part. The Strikers had nothing to lose really, so they came out all guns blazing, but we absorbed the pressure and did really well. We’ve still got a lot of work to do, but we’ve got the Premiership and now we’ll go after the Grand Final.”
The Strikers will get their chance at payback next weekend, when the two teams face off again in the first leg of their finals series. The Strikers will host the Fire at Perry Park in the first leg, before returning to Sunshine Coast Stadium the weekend after for the second leg. Kick-off times will be made available in the coming days.
FINAL SCORE – Sunshine Coast FC – 4 (Hicks, 10, 62, Musson, 25, Dwyer, 38)
Brisbane Strikers – 3 (Burke, 37, 90, Robinson, 70)
LINEUP – Hall, Knight, Henslee, Smith, Henderson, Dwyer, Roberts, Holmes, Stinson, Hicks (Brazendale), Musson (Blackman).
No comments:
Post a Comment