Under 12 Boys:
Sunshine Coast Fire defeated Western Pride 7-0.
Goal scorers: Mackenar Bradfield (2), Daniel Cuttler (2), KaelanDebbage (2) Archie Waterson.
Coach Matt Huston said as usual the Fire looked to dominate and control the game from the start, pressing Western Pride back into its own half.
Within five minutes Daniel Cuttler received the ball from the wing and switched the ball across to find Mackenar Bradfield 1v1 with the goal keeper. Bradfield decided to have a shoot on goal by chipping the goal keeper from outside the box. The shot finished in the bottom-left corner to give the Fire an early lead.
Four minutes later another good combination from Bradfield and Cuttler added another goal to the score sheet. Bradfield switched the ball from the wing to find Cuttler in the middle, who headed the ball into the top left-hand corner. A few minutes later Fire scored again as Archie Waterson crossed the ball to Cuttler to find the back of the net.
Just 15 minutes into the game Waterson intercepted a ball in the midfield and beat a couple of players before finding Cuttler in dangerous position again. Cuttler then switched to Bradfield once again, who showed great skill by flicking the ball around the defender to get 1v1 with the goal keeper and place the ball in the back of net.
Western Pride caught the Fire on the counter-attack down the left wing with some nice combination play, however Western Pride was awarded a free kick after Oliver Williams took down a player. Goal keeper Nathan Foster caught the ball comfortably to regain possession for the Fire.
The Fire kept dominating the game with impressive touch and ball skills. Some great combination play forced the Western Pride keeper to make a quick save.
With 12 minutes to go in the half Jyi Oakes and Joseph Higginson subbed on for Hooper and Waterson.
The Fire boys saw out the remainder of the half in complete control. They dominated possession and looked comfortable at the back.
At half-time Hooper and Waterson returned to the field to replace Sean Bentley and Kaelan Debbage.
The Fire continued to control the game into the second-half. Without looking threatening the Fire kept the ball well and did not give Western Pride much to get motivated about. The players kept the press nice and high but failed to convert chances into goals.
With 15 minutes on the clock Bentley and Debbage returned to the field replacing Williams and Bown. Debbage made an immediate impact, picking up the crumbs of Waterson’s shot to place the ball in an open net.
Cuttler made another run at the defence and beat the players to lay the ball across goal to Debbage for another goal in the bottom corner.
Waterson added another goal to the Fire’s tally in the last minutes, bringing the score to 7-0.
“The boys’ hard effort at training on paid off again. It was a solid defensive display and a great performance to control the game,” Assistant Coach Brad Wallace said.
“Now we have to try to build on that level of performance for the coming weeks.”
Huston said he was pleased with the boys.
“They didn’t stop working for each other that is what needs to be done to win games,” he said.
Under 13 Boys:
Sunshine Coast Fire defeated Western Pride 1-0.
Goal scorer: Jesse Gibbs
Coach Alex Barlow said once again the Fire boys’ main ambition was a clean sheet. The Fire started off the stronger of the two teams, as the boys shut down angles well and made it hard for Western Pride to play out. The wind favoured the Fire and it made it difficult for Western Pride to get out of its half.
After several attempts on goal the Fire finally gained a shot target. Jesse Gibbs once again added to his tally after Jac Eather slid a ball through for him to run on to.
The Fire didn’t make too many changes before the second-half, having controlled most of the first-half. However the boys knew the second half would be difficult as they would play into the wind. Western Pride took to the field with four players pressing up-front, restricting the Fire’s ability to play out.
The Fire’s first-half goal proved to be the decider as the two teams remained scoreless in the second half.
“Pride did well to limit us playing out, however I’m proud of the boys for still looking to play. We could quite easily have just knocked it long and made the game a foot race but we still looked to play feet and bounce the ball around,” Barlow said.
“We did a great job to keep another clean sheet and also string together consecutive wins.”
Under 14 Girls:
Sunshine Coast Fire defeated Souths Strikers 6-0.
Goal scorers:
Coach Tom White said the girls played some great football in this game.
“Their movement and game awareness was fantastic and we fully deserved the 6-0 scoreline and the three points,” he said.
“I thought we made some little technical errors; a few first touches into defenders and a few miss-hit passes, however because the girls were so tactically good, they were able to create more opportunities and win tackles when we really needed it.”
Once again the Fire girls’ defence was excellent; Holly Vidulich, Teena Hartwig, Aqua Meanie, Kirra Guy and Zoe Hopwood all displayed well-timed tackles and created attacks.
Kirsty Clifford managed another hat-trick, while Lisa van Hooijdonk scores two and Tayla Gesch’s last goal completed a great day for the girls.
“The team would also like to congratulate Tayla Gesch for the last 3 years representing Sunshine Coast Football and wish her all the best in the USA,” White said.
“I’m very pleased with the girls’ performance today. They were all good. Just another very pleasing effort and we move on to next week’s game!”
Under 15 Boys:
Sunshine Coast Fire defeated Western Pride 8-1 at Meridan Plains.
Goal scorers: Sean Pateman (2), Timi Adu (2), Jordan Wust, Jack Tait, Tom Swane, Jordan Irwin.
Assistant Coach Johnno Whiting said Sunshine Coast Fire said the Fire started strongly as Timi Adu gained the ball on the left-hand side, cut inside and placed the ball in the bottom corner in the first minute.
In the 10th minute the Fire scored a second goal. A great one-two between Cameron Nairn and Timi Adu allowed Adu to score his second goal, placing it past the goal keeper.
The Fire continued to dominate possession in the first-half and soon gained a third goal as Jordan Wust tapped in a great corner from Alex van Kampen.
The Fire again took control of the game in the second-half and gained a fourth goal in the 50th minute as Jordy Irwin took on a player on the left wing before cutting inside and blasting the ball into the top corner.
The goals kept coming for the Fire. In the 60th minute a quick corner let Wust gain his second with a powerful header from a Sean Pateman cross.
Shortly afterwards Cameron Nairn made a great run down the left-hand side and drove the ball into the box for Jack Tait to gain his first goal of the season with a shot into the top of the net.
Right back Pateman scored a cracking goal with his left foot, straight in to the top corner to bring the score to 7-0.
With nine minutes to go, Western Pride managed to get a messy consolation goal inside the box.
Goal keeper Luke Marker (goalkeeper) took a penalty in the 76th minute. The Western Pride goal keeper saved the shot and Tom Swane managed to score off the rebound.
A strong 8-1 win was great for the boys after Round 13’s loss to Moreton Bay.
Under 16 Boys:
Sunshine Coast Fire defeated Western Pride 5-0.
Goal scorers: Blake Huston, Wade Nelson (3), Luke Devitt.
After defeating top-of-the-table Moreton Bay Jets in Round 13, the Fire were keen to continue their winning form and raring to take the field.
Assistant Coach Jarrod Rodios said the Fire dominated the game from the first whistle to the last despite the bobbly pitch and strong wind.
The game started with the Fire creating chance after chance. Winger Wade Nelson finally got the Fire on the scoreboard with some great pressure on the Pride defence. He won the ball back just outside the Pride 18-yard box and placed a shot into the bottom corner.
In the 36th minute Blake Huston, who was pushed up into midfield with the return of Matt Carrick from suspension, scored the Fire’s second goal. He hit a thunderous drive through a crowd of players and struck the bottom corner of the goal.
The Fire continued to create chances as half-time neared, however the Western Pride goal keeper made some great saves to stop the scoreboard getting out of hand. Glenn Morris also continued his impressive run of defensive form in both left and right back.
Nick Taylor was moved from left back to left wing and was a constant threat to the Pride defence with his pace and dribbling skills. A frustrated Pride defender blatantly took him down in the box during the second-half and the Fire was awarded a penalty. Luke Devitt calmly slotted the penalty home to bring the score to 3-0.
The Fire continued to exploit the gaps in Pride’s defence; first with a lovely weighted ball from Taylor over the backline right into the path of Nelson. He only needed one touch before driving the ball into the back of the net. Next it was Matt Forde who, in the 79th minute, hit a beautifully timed through ball, again perfectly into Nelson’s path. He took the ball around the keeper and secured his hat trick for the day, bringing the final score to 5-0.
Under 18 Girls:
Sunshine Coast Fire defeated Redlands United 3-2.
Goal scorers: Samara Christmas (2), Amy McGlynn
From the first whistle play was high-tempo with plenty of attempts on goal. However the Fire’s last pass to goal lacked the quality to beat an in-form Redlands goal keeper. Against the run of play Redlands counter attacked with numbers and fired a missile past goal keeper Savanna Bowtell-Harris.
This was the trigger to ignite the Fire and the game looked set to be a good football challenge. In the next 10 minutes the Fire girls lifted the tempo to another level with excellent build-up play and accurate last passes to goal.
Kayla Moore scored the Fire’s first goal after she received a squared ball from Samara Christmas to half-volley past an outstretched Redlands goal keeper and level the score.
The Fire continued to turn up the volume of quality plays into the Redlands third. Christmas was able to latch on to another squared ball into the 18-yard box and lose her markers to fire a shot into the back of the net.
Some quality team build-up starting with Bowtell-Harris allowed Lucy Froud to cross into the six-yard box for Amy McGlynn to finish with composure. This brought the score to 3-1 in the Fire’s favour.
A shell-shocked Redlands returned from the break with every intention to continue to challenge. They translated this intention into a well-constructed goal and beat Bowtell-Harris at the near post to bring the score to 3 -2.
Once again this triggered the Fire to create goal-scoring opportunities. Froud crossed into the 18-yard box for Hall, whose first touch found the Redlands goal keeper. Shortly afterwards Froud took on her marker into the 18-yard box to fire a top-left for the goal keeper to parry over the cross bar.
Finally, a corner from Claire Glackin found Christmas for a header which beat the goal keeper but crashed off the upright.
The final score was 3-2 to the Fire.
Photos – Under 12 Boys Fire v Western Pride:
“The Fire girls have shown what they can do, well done,” Coach Francis Lynch said.
Photos- Under 18 Boys Fire v Western Pride:
