The sparkling form of the Sunshine Coast Fire Under-19s has continued, with the boys scoring a convincing 4-1 victory over South West Queensland to gain direct passage to the Grand Final.
A brace from Kaine Frew, as well as goals from Andy Harrison and Luke Lewis secured the Fire a comfortable win, and the side will now face the winner of the South West Queensland v Brisbane Strikers Preliminary Final.
With the sodden pitch further damaged by the seniors game played beforehand, conditions were poor and both teams struggled early on. The Fire looked the more confident side as both teams settled, with Frew and Harrison both missing early chances.
Andy Gillen missed an opportunity on 25 minutes, after Verdin worked well down the left byline before cutting the ball back to Gillen, who couldn’t get enough angle on his shot.
After half an hour of play, the game radically changed complexion when Kaine Frew scored twice in a minute. For the first, a shot from Verdin was parried by SWQ keeper Zach Talbot, but Frew knocked it over the line to open the scoring. From the restart, the Fire quickly won possession and attacked down the right, with Luke Lewis chipping a low cross to Frew who connected sweetly from the edge of the area to double the lead.
As the match approached half-time, the Fire were well and truly on top and were dominating possession. It wasn’t long before the Sunshine Coast scored again, and this time it was Andy Harrison producing a classy finish as he settled on his left foot just inside the penalty area and cracked a shot into the roof of the net.
The visitors had one of their first chances of the game in the closing seconds of the half, as Brad Stark produced an accurate cross for Joel Fraser, who missed the target with a header.
The second half kicked off in much the same fashion with the Fire controlling the contest. 50 minutes in, Luke Lewis won the ball after a miscued clearance from SWQ and drove it home from the edge of the area to make the score 4-0.
With the match over as a contest, South West Queensland were playing for pride. Nathan Stark sent a free-kick well wide of goal, before Nick Berry forced a solid save from Sam Nickolls when he shot on the half-volley.
On 70 minutes, SWQ found a consolation goal when Jake Jones rode a challenge and beat Nickolls with a well-placed shot inside the left post.
In the wake of the SWQ goal, the Fire looked to up their intensity and continue scoring. An excellent build-up between Lewis and Frew looked to create a chance, but Frew’s final pass to Harrison was mishit by the striker.
As the match got closer to its end, Nathan Stark went very close to scoring from 40 yards out when he spotted Nickolls off his line and went for goal, but his shot could only rattle the crossbar.
Harrison went desperately close to scoring his second in the dying minutes when he expertly stepped two defenders and moved into the box, but his eventual shot could only hit the left post and go out of play.
In the last play of the game, SWQ went close to scoring a second but Nickolls was well placed to deal with Mitch Golding’s shot, and the final whistle sounded for a 4-1 triumph.
With a Grand Final berth now successfully booked, the Fire will have to wait and see who their opponent will be when SWQ and the Brisbane Strikers face off in a knockout Preliminary Final. Having defeated both sides in the last fortnight and shown discipline and heart throughout the 2011 season, the Fire will have every right to go into the Final as favourites. Details for the final will be announced once available.
FINAL SCORE: Sunshine Coast Fire – 4 (Frew, 32, 33, Harrison, 40, Lewis, 50)
South West Queensland – 1 (Jones, 71)
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