Game Reports

Sunshine Coast FC is off to a flying start in the first NPL season.

The senior team showed a strong front against Central Queensland FC, with the full time score standing at 7-0.

The Under 18 Girls also had a standout performance, defeating Western Pride 5-0 in their first game together as a squad after their training games were washed out.

First Team:

The Fire First Team defeated Central Queensland FC 7-0 on Saturday night.

Coach Kevin A’Herne-Evans said after a gruelling 4.30am start on Saturday morning the Fire could have been excused for a slow start. However with the experience and professionalism in the squad, the Fire players refused to search for any sort of excuse for a lack lustre performance.

From the first whistle the Fire aimed to take control of the game, forcing a number of corners. Only fine goal keeping from CQFC kept the game scoreless. That was until Niko Bechar read a back pass, kept his composure in drawing the final defender then slipped the ball to Jeremy Lynch to score the Fire’s first ever goal in the NPL era after 16 mins.

The Fire then escaped a couple of scares; Sam Nickolls made a fine save low to his right and shortly afterwards Central Queensland shaved the cross bar with a dipping free kick. This galvanised the Fire team again, and sweeping move resulted in a free kick on the edge of the box. Leon Dwyer’s perfectly placed set piece found Wade Zammit on the back post to head home.

Chris Toovey replaced the injured James Verdin and immediately had a presence with his strength and pace.

High pressure from the Fire resulted in a misplaced pass which Zammit pounced on. This freed Toovey to coolly finish in the bottom corner from 16 yards. The half time score was 3-0 to the Fire.

The second half began with the Fire entrenched in Central Queensland’s half probing for an opening in the deep lying defence.

Niko Bechar found himself isolated with a defender and the little French wizard needed no invite to take the defender on, ghosting inside and beating another defender he slammed home for the Fire’s fourth.

With the points in the bag the Fire pushed to turn their superiority into goals.

Kaine Frew entered the arena and with his proven ability to pick up good positions in the final third it was not long until he made a clever outside-to-in run which was picked out by a Fire midfielder. His first time effort was well saved again, however the ball fell kindly for Toovey to slot into an empty net for his second goal.

Frew soon got on the score sheet. Finding himself free on the edge of the box he made no mistake drilling the ball low past the keeper to bring the score to 6-0.

With seconds remaining the Fire continued to find willing runners flooding the Central Queensland penalty area.

Paul Arnison found Fire Captain Geig Henslee at the back post. Henslee’s lofted ball then found the impressive Leon Dwyer at the back post to squeeze the ball past the goal keeper at the near post. This brought the full-time score to 7-0.

“I am delighted with how we went about our work tonight. We were clinical with everything we did,” A’herne-Evans said.

“Looking at the big picture what pleases me is eight players in the starting line-up are born and bred Sunshine Coast boys, it was a good game for them to start there development into NPL players.

“It will take a lot of hard work and dedication to get up to the level of consistency the experienced campaigners have, however it brings me joy to see that the future of the Fire is promising.

“We will not get carried away; we will have a tough test against Moreton Bay Jets who have some excellent players – in particular Royce Brownlie.”

“We need all our vocal Fire supporters to get right behind us at Stockland in what will be a good day with all the other games going on at the Stadium too.”

Under 18 Girls:

The Under 18 Girls Fire defeated Western Pride 5-0.

Coach Francis Lynch said the Fire girls started with intent from the whistle.

“Full backs Madison Phelps and Els Van Hooijdonk overlapped to put the ball in behind Western Pride defenders,” Lynch said.

“If not for the Western Pride goal keeper, the Fire could have taken a two goal lead in the first 10 minutes.”

An undermanned Western Pride squad worked hard off the ball to deny space and time but sharp one touch football enabled the girls to play out and into the opposition.

Forwards Mia Radda, Lucy Froud and Summer McGladrigan shot at will and finally Samara Christmas scored the first goal for 2013.

Western Pride knocked the ball long at central defenders Chloe Holbelt and Keira Burgess but they played into goalkeeper Savanna Bowtell-Harris and played out at with confidence to Grace Wilkins. Wilkins overlapped with Kayla Moore shooting but the windy conditions pushed the ball into Western Pride goal keeper’s saving hands.

The second half saw a rejuvenated Western Pride try to peg a goal back but Samara Christmas and Martha Bensted’s goals dampened their hopes 3-0.

Western Pride’s last raid saw Madi Nugent win the ball back and play a neat one-two with Amy McGlynn.

McGlynn bounced the ball into Sienna Tucker and Isabel Hall and continued her run side-footed into open goal to score the team goal of the match.

Claire Glackin crossed deep into the six-yard box for Christmas to powerfully head in her hat trick, and bring the end score to 5-0.

“Well done to all the players,” Lynch said.

Under 18 Boys:

The Under 18 Boys defeated Wide Bay Revolution 3-2.

Coach Paul Arnison said the Fire started the game at a very low tempo and did not press the ball high up the pitch.

“Our passing was very sloppy and we quickly found ourselves 2-0 down after 25 minutes,” Arnison said.

“However we began to realise we were in a game and in the last 15 minutes of the first half we started to take control.”

Arnison said after good play down the Fire’s right Chris Jancevski was played through on goal and as he was about to shoot he was fouled inside the area. A penalty was awarded and Elliot Marsay smashed home to make it 2-1.

Jack Johnson was booked for a shirt pull just before half time and ten minutes into second half he was sent off for dissent shown towards the referee.

In spite of this the Fire dominated the second half creating chances at ease. Brandon Lee levelled the scores with a great run and even better strike.

“It was only a matter of time before we got the third,” Arnison said.

“Lee was again the scorer. After good play down the right he managed to find himself free in the box with a cool finish into the bottom far corner.”

“We had few one on ones to kill the game off through Chris Jancevski, Luke Maclean and Josh Ives but the keeper made some goods saves.”

At the other end Damien Cox made a vital save to keep the lead intact.

“All in all it was a satisfactory performance but there is plenty room for improvement – well done boys.”

Under 16 Boys:

Wide Bay Revolution defeated the Fire’s Under 16 Boys 3-2.

Coach Dave Bensted said Wide Bay applied pressure early in the game, however the Fire seemed to gain confidence from some good spells of possession.

With goals from Max Addey and Jordy Lloyd the Fire looked as though it was going to be coming in at half time 2-0 up.

After two goals in three minutes Wide Bay got themselves back all square.

“Wide Bay playing a good counter attacking game,” Bensted said.

“They always looked threatening, and took the lead half way through the second half.”

The Fire continued with their passing game but was unable to create any clear chances.

“Both teams played some good football in windy conditions which was a credit to all players involved,” Bensted said.

Under 15 Boys:

The Fire Under 15 Boys defeated Wide Bay Revolution 6-1.

Coach Dan Carew said the Fire started with a bang after some nice pressing work left Cameron Nairn to tuck it away and celebrate in style in the second minute.

The Fire continued to press and dominate possession, scoring again in the sixth minute through Thomas Swane. The boys added another goal through some fancy footwork of Timi Adu in the 10th minute.

More chances were presented before half time but the Fire were unable to capitalise and went into the break 3-0 up.

The second half again saw some great chances for the Fire early on but against the run of play a Wide Bay striker got himself into the box and was pushed by Khalib Hough. Wide Bay was awarded a penalty.

Luke Marker made a great save to stop the initial spot kick but the Fire did not follow up and Wide Bay was able to tuck it away.

The boys regathered themselves and continued to look dangerous through Alex Van Kampen and Cameron Nairn.
After some nice play, Nairn struck for his second on the 47th minute mark.

Nairn again showed his quality by adding another to complete his hat trick on the 60th minute. Jordan Vieira was unlucky, his 25-yard screamer bought out the absolute best in the Wide Bay keeper.

Jordy Irwin topped off the afternoon with a smoking left foot strike just off the corner flag which left everyone bemused.

A lot of chances went begging with Timi Adu, Thomas Swane, Alex Van Kampen and Jack Tait all having chances during the game to add to the impressive 6-1 score line.

“All in all it was a great start to the season and exciting things to come from the Under 15 Fire,” Carew said.

Under 14 Girls:

Sunshine Coast Fire U14 Girls drew 3-3 with Olympic/Central Brisbane.

Coach Tom White said he was impressed with the girls, who went into the game with a bare eleven and came out on topagainst one of the stronger teams in the competition with some superb football.

Kirsty Clifford was the first to put the Fire on the score sheet.

She delivered a great counter attacking goal with a calm finish and put the girls 1-0 up.

Woman of the match Madi Warren followed with two class goals.

“Warren’s first goal was a quality lob from outside the area which left the keeper stranded,” White said.

“Her following goal was good determination to win the ball followed by another well placed finish.”

After being 3-0 up in the middle of the day with the bare eleven the girls tired and slowly made a few errors causing Brisbane to get back into the game.

However some good goalkeeping from Katie, rock solid defending from Aqua Meanie, Kirra Guy, Kateena Hartwig and Holly Vidulich and the hard work of Tayla Bea in front of them kept Brisbane from nicking a winner.

“Overall it was a steady start for the girls,” White said.

Under 14 Boys:

The Under 14 Boys Fire team defeated Wide Bay Revolution 9-0.

Coach Ben Cahn said the Fire dominated the highly anticipated first game of the NPL. However, the win did not come easily as Wide Bay controlled the early possession.

The high pressing from the Fire proved to be too much for the Wide Bay backline to handle.

The Fire began to stamp their authority and went in at half time with a 4-0 lead.

The second half was relatively slow and scrappy with the result already decided, but the Fire showed some quality in patches, strolling in to a 9-0 lead.

Cahn said Bradley Ellis stood out at centre back, winning everything that was thrown at him and controlling the tempo of the game with some excellent distribution.

Sunshine Coast boasted their new firepower up front, with their three speedy acquisitions each getting on the score sheet and causing problems all afternoon.

Jack Bowen stole the show with four goals and a part to play in two other goals.

Goalkeeper Marcus Worthington and his back four would be happy with a clean sheet to start the season.

“The Fire will need step up as Moreton Bay Jets will prove to be a tougher test this coming weekend,” Cahn said.

Under 13 Boys:

The Under 13 Boys defeated Wide Bay Revolution 9-0.

Coach Alex Barlow said the hot weather had the boys starting off slowly in their first game for a few weeks.

The Fire took possession early on and showed their dominance, which continued throughout the game.

Wide Bay were positioned well defensively which stopped the Fire scoring early. However, after prolonged pressure from the Fire, Jesse Gibbs was able to break through midway through the first half.

The fire then added three more goals and went into half time with a 4-0 lead.

Barlow said the team had a few tactical changes at half time, which helped the boys continue their dominance of the game. They applied pressure higher up the field which stopped Wide Bay playing out.

The boys’ quick ball speed and movement helped the Fire open up Wide Bay’s defence and add a further five goals in the second half.

Gibbs completed a hat trick with two goals in the second half before subbing off for Brady Williams who scored one of his own.

Barlow said Jac Eather popped up with two goals and an assist to Tyson Williams. Williams could have doubled his tally for the match with a penalty kick, however the Wide Bay keeper refused to let the score get to double figures.

“The goals of the game came in the first half courtesy of Brayden Huston and Aiden Castillo, who decided to place on in the top corner of the Wide Bay goal from distances,” Barlow said.

“Fire goal keeper David Payne can be thankful of the quality of defence from the back four, keeping a clean sheet and reducing his saves to just three for the match.”

Under 12 Boys:

The Under 12 Boys Fire team defeated Wide Bay Revolution 13-0.

Coach Matt Huston said after all the excitement surrounding the under 12s success at their pre-season tournament, the anticipation and nerves were at a high prior to the match.

A small army of parents family and friends gathered on the sideline.

Lead out on the field by this season’s captain Sean Bentley, the boys were focused and eager to put all their hard work into action.

A shaky first few touches were soon forgotten as Daniel Cuttler opened the scoring within the first two minutes of the match.

“The boys then settled into the game and their pre-season form continued. They proved to be a tough task for Wide Day to contain,” Huston said.

The Fire racked up another five goals in rapid succession including another two for Daniel Cuttler and one each for Jyi Oakes, Mackenar Bradfield and Kaelan Debbage.

At half time the score was 6-0.

A few changes were made and the boys continued the onslaught with yet another rapid succession of goals, this time from Tom Whittaker who netted four goals within 10 minutes.

Another two from Mackenar Bradfield sealed his hat trick and a final header from Daniel Cuttler on the 58th minute would bring the total to 13-0.

“The boys have come together incredibly well so far,” Huston said.

“We have a great balance of players who pride themselves on their defensive strength and ability to win balls all over the park and build up play and turn it into attack.

“However special mention must go to our back line and Nathan Foster on another clean sheet.

“We look forward to what we hope to be a very promising year with still plenty to learn and work on – well done boys.”