Under 12 Boys – Moreton Bay United FC (0) v Sunshine Coast FC (5)
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Under 13 Boys – Moreton Bay United FC (2) v Sunshine Coast FC (4)
Fire started the game with great purpose and from the opening whistle looked to play attacking football. Liam Macmillan started many early attacks as he combined beautifully with Matt Gaske and Jayden Emery down the left, the first of which had Gaske narrowly miss.
With intense pressure on the ball as Moreton Bay looked to play out, Alex Patterson pounced as a back pass from a Moreton Bay defender allowed Patterson to tackle the keeper and put Fire 1-0 up after 8 minutes. Fire continued to attack with both Debbage and Gaske looking to combine with Fire midfield. It only took until the 14th minute before Fire had another opportunity. Gaske again found space down the left and squared a perfect pass to Debbage who pushed the ball just wide. Not to be outdone, the Fire defense looked solid and organised as they pressured Moreton Bay.
On 18 minutes Moreton Bay were awarded a free kick outside the box. A powerful header from the Moreton Bay #9 was brilliantly saved by Hugh Williams as he dove and pushed the ball wide of the goal. Fire continued to push the ball around finding space behind the Moreton Bay defence. They were awarded a corner in the 21st minute and after a goal mouth scramble the ball fell for Emery who placed the ball high into the Moreton Bay net.
As the half came to a close Fire produced their best play of the day. Aaron Smith accelerated through the midfield and weaved his way past several players. With a nicely timed wrap around, Macmillan received the ball at pace and placed a perfectly weighted pass into the path of Patterson who shot from a difficult angle only to brush the outside of the Moreton Bay goal to close the half at 2-0.
The second half started with an early goal from Moreton Bay. As Fire pushed out quickly and played a high defensive line, Moreton Bay chipped the ball behind the full backs and into the path of an attacker who made it 2-1. Fire continued to dominate play and after a great run by Gaske, a weighted pass found Patterson who rounded the keeper to restore Fire’s 2 goal advantage.
Fire continued to move the ball quickly with numerous first-time passes being played by the midfield of Williams, Simpson, Toye and Smith. An impressive display from all full backs made life very difficult for Moreton Bay to find any fluency. Connor Evans displayed a great range of passing constantly picking out a team mate higher on the pitch. After 59 mins Smith beat a player and squared the ball to Aryon Ramos who was 30m out and with his back to goal. Ramos turned his player and instinctively drove the ball from distance. Fire went 4-1 up as Ramos placed the ball into the top corner. With only a few minutes left Moreton Bay scored a consolation goal, however the day belonged to Fire. An impressive display where their skill level was matched by their intensity.
Player of the Match: Liam Macmillan. Liam was incredibly solid in defense up against a much taller opponent. He looked to go forward at every opportunity, combined well with his winger and didn’t look out of place in the second half when he was moved to the wing.
Under 13 Girls – Sunshine Coast FC (7) v Olympic FC (0)
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Under 14 Boys – Moreton Bay United FC (2) v Sunshine Coast FC (2)
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Under 15 Boys – Moreton Bay United FC (0) v Sunshine Coast FC (1)
Sunshine Coast travelled to Brisbane to take on top of the table Moreton Bay in a match looked to be a tough game, but with a plan to nullify their strengths and take advantage of their weaknesses.
The match started in perfect fashion for Fire, with the midfield winning possession and a quick break forward saw a shot deflect into the path of Budd Baublys who finished clinically to give Fire an early lead.
Moreton Bay were allowed most of the possession, but Fire kept excellent shape defensively, so most of their possession was the back line passing to each other, and whenever they ventured forward the midfield trio of Jordan Meredith, Sean Bentley and Nathan Thompson made it extremely difficult for them to go forward, while the central defensive pairing didn’t give the Moreton Bay striker a touch.
Fire were playing well on the break, with fullbacks Harry Bowen and Brodie Boyce doing an excellent job of getting forward to support Kaelan Debbage and Budd Baublys in wide areas.
Fire could and probably should have added a second when a corner wasn’t dealt with by the Moreton Bay defence, but Baublys effort went over the top of the bar from close range.
Moreton Bay didn’t have a shot or cross find its mark in the first half, but Fire could have added another in the dying minutes after another break saw an excellent ball find Kaelan Debbage whose effort went just wide.
The second half saw Fire expecting Moreton Bay to come out full of running, and they did try and up the tempo of the match to find holes in what was a very hard defence to penetrate.
Once again Moreton Bay enjoyed most of the possession; however they weren’t able to get through or over the Fire defence with all 11 players playing their role perfectly.
Fire weren’t quite as efficient with the ball as they were in the first half, but the defensive work was top class for the whole match and once again Moreton Bay couldn’t test goalkeeper Eligh Williams.
Moreton Bay threw players forward as time ran out, and on the break Kaelan Debbage put another good effort just wide after an excellent ball from Brodie Boyce.
Moreton Bay were never going to penetrate the Fire defence but did have three late free kicks that were all dealt with by the Fire wall and keeper which allowed us to hold on to an excellent and well deserved 1-0 win.
Player of the Match: Jordan Meredith
Under 15 Girls – Sunshine Coast FC (3) v Olympic FC (4)
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Under 16 Boys – Moreton Bay United FC (0) v Sunshine Coast FC (0)
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Under 18 Boys – Sunshine Coast FC (6) v Brisbane City FC (1)
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