The Sunshine Coast Fire have trounced the Bundaberg Spirit 7-0 at Sunshine Coast Stadium, setting up a premiership-deciding clash with the Brisbane Strikers for Friday evening.
Doubles from Gareth Musson, Greig Henslee and Tyson Holmes, as well as a goal from Sam Knight, secured the Fire their 10th win of the season and kept them two points clear atop the HQSL table.
Friday’s rescheduled game with the second-placed Brisbane Strikers will now decide the Premiership, with the Fire needing a draw or a win to lift the Premiers Plate for a third time.
After Brisbane kept their Premiership challenge alive with a win over the Whitsunday Miners on Saturday night, the Sunshine Coast knew that they needed to beat Bundaberg to regain top spot on the ladder.
From the opening whistle, the home side controlled proceedings and it wasn’t long before they opened the scoring through Gareth Musson. Jason Hicks found possession on the left wing, before sending a low cross into the danger area which Leon Dwyer collected with his back to goal. Dwyer laid the ball off to Musson who produced a clinical finish, giving Spirit keeper Jason McEwan no chance as he found the bottom corner of goal.
Bundaberg looked to rally after going behind early, with Laurie Stephenson forcing a save out of Antony Hall in one of the Spirit’s first attacks. Bundaberg were unable to keep the ball in their attacking half in the following minutes, and on 12 minutes the Fire doubled their lead. A looping far-post cross was read well by Greig Henslee, who headed past McEwan from a few yards out.
After 15 minutes of play, Bundaberg were under siege and struggling to clear their lines as the Fire swarmed forward. McEwan was again called upon, and did well to block a long distance drive from Jason Hicks before pouncing on the rebounded ball.
The Spirit were looking to attack directly when they had possession, but were breaking down through midfield and lacking killer instinct up front. Elliot Causer couldn’t control a header from close range for the visitors, clearing the bar by metres.
With the Sunshine Coast settling into the game well, Sam Knight produced a good assist in his 50th game for the club, finding Tyson Holmes at the far post with an accurate cross. The captain headed truly, hitting the back of the net from close range and stretching the lead to 3-0 after 21 minutes of play.
Barely a minute later, a tidy through pass from Judd Molea released Musson one-on-one, and the striker made no mistake to score his second and his side’s fourth goal of the game.
The shell-shocked Spirit were again picking the ball out of the back of the net on 25 minutes when Greig Henslee, playing further up the pitch than usual, nabbed his second goal. Henslee powered a header into the roof of the net from 12 yards following a cross, compounding Bundaberg’s woes.
The rout continued on 32 minutes, as Holmes rode two challenges before dribbling into the penalty area and beating the keeper with minimal fuss for a 6-0 lead.
As half-time approached, Bundaberg began to gain some traction in midfield but were failing to make an impression on the Sunshine Coast defence. Jason Hicks almost added a seventh in spectacular fashion, but McEwan dropped well to parry his near-post drive.
Six goals to the good at the break, the Fire could afford to take their foot off the pedal in the second stanza, but still looked hungry when the half kicked off. Henslee missed an opportunity for a hat-trick as he lifted a shot over the bar from the edge of the penalty area.
The scoreline moved into more embarrassing territory for the Spirit on 50 minutes, when Sam Knight worked into the left of the penalty area and knocked the ball home from a tight angle, stretching the lead to 7-0.
Some of the sting went out of the game following Knight’s goal. Bundaberg’s best chance of the game came on 63 minutes, when Brendan Davis found space in the penalty area but had his shot blocked.
As the clock ticked away, Molea went very close to notching a goal of his own when Spirit keeper McEwan plucked the ball off Molea’s foot just as he prepared to shoot from close range. Minutes after, Holmes was denied a hat-trick of his own when his goal-bound header was cleared off the line by the last defender.
Matthew Mills missed a consolation goal for the visitors in injury time when he headed wide, but the Spirit would have been happy to hear the final whistle sound. For the Fire, the comfortable win will go some way to restoring the confidence that was dented last week by the side’s 2-0 loss to Whitsunday.
The clinical nature of the win pleased Richard Hudson, but the coach was well aware that the Brisbane Strikers will pose a very different threat on Friday night.
“It was good to kill the game off in the first half. We showed a lot of experience and played really well, and we got everyone out on the pitch for a run, so they should all be fresh for next week’s game with the Strikers. I was looking for a reaction to last week’s loss to Whitsunday, and training was very good this week. We can relax a bit now, and start preparing and training for next week.”
Sunshine Coast Stadium will host the premiership decider on Friday night, with kick-off set for 8pm. Although a draw will be enough for the Fire to be crowned back-to-back Premiers, the side will no doubt attack the game and look for a psychological victory over the Strikers as the finals series approaches.
FINAL SCORE: Sunshine Coast FC – 7 (Musson, 7, 24, Henslee, 12, 26, Holmes, 21, 32, Knight, 50)
Bundaberg Spirit – 0
LINEUP:
Hall, Knight, Smith, Henderson, Stinson (Lyle, 60), Molea, Holmes, Henslee, Dwyer (Shibahashi, 58), Hicks, Musson (Blackman, 58).
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