THE Sunshine Coast Fire under 12 years performed impressively in the Amart Allsports Tournament at the weekend, finishing as runner-up.
The Fire conquered the group stages with an unbeaten run against three teams.
They defeated the South-West Thunder 2-0, Albany Creek 3-0 and Peninsula Power 3-0.
Coach Matt Huston said the boys’ ability to go forward and break down defence with crisp passing and movement was at a high level.
“It was impressive to watch at such a young age and especially as it is only the second time they had played together as a team,” he said.
“Some great linking play from Daniel Rouillard and Kaelan Debbage with the support of Archie Waterson, Danny Cuttler and Oliver Williams proved to be the making of what was said to be the team goal of the day.”
The Fire then played in the semi-final against Morton Bay.
The boys’ form continued with a one-nil victory.
Waterson delivered a superb solo effort to find half-a-yard of space and strike the ball into the top corner of the net 20 yards out.
This secured a grand final spot for the Fire.
The defensive structure and organisation across the back line was yet to be troubled as the boys had not been scored against.
The grand final was against Olympic FC and the Fire momentum and high hopes of gaining goal keeper Nathan Foster’s fifth clean sheet of the day were cut back shortly after kick-off.
A tired clearance and heavy legs were unable to close down the space and the boys found themselves one-nil down.
The Fire kept up the pressure on the Olympic defence with some fast overlapping breaks up the line and some quality balls in and around the box.
They were rewarded with an equaliser not long into the second half.
The score was then one all with fatigue setting in and the clock running down.
Some last gutsy efforts failed to find the goal the Fire needed so the game would be decided on penalties.
The Fire went down 4-3 after five shots a piece.
“It was a fantastic day and I would like to give a special thank you to parents for their support,” Huston said.
“The tournament was a great start to a big year for the under 12s.”
