First Team:
Written by Michael Flynn, Football Queensland
Sunshine Coast Fire 3 v SWQ Thunder 1
Sunshine Coast Fire surged to fifth in the NPL Queensland standings after downing a valiant South West Queensland Thunder 3-1 on Saturday at Clive Berghofer Stadium.
A second half brace to Futa Nakamura sealed Fire the points after Thunder’s Ryan Ensor cancelled out Matt Needham’s first-half opener.
Both teams created early chances as Ensor and Nakamura both missed opportunities to give their team the lead in the opening exchanges.
The sides continued to trade blows with Dave Macrae’s shot blocked for Fire and Ensor setting up Tom Fanning for Thunder, who shot wide of the post.
Needham found the breakthrough on 25 minutes, slotting the ball home after a sublime build-up from Ryan Delahunty created the opportunity.
Traditional Toowoomba fog greeted the players for the second half but the contest’s attacking flavour remained unaffected.
Ensor levelled terms with a sublime individual goal as he ran 35 yards before delivering an assured finish.
The goal was Thunder’s first since early March and ended a nine game scoreless run for the Toowoomba club.
Noticeably buoyed, the hosts flirting with taking the lead before being caught off guard by a Fire counter-attack that saw Nakamura open his account by slipping his shot past Thunder goalkeeper Jace Hudson.
Both teams tired as the match drew to a close and a momentary lapse of concentration from Hudson on 84 minutes saw his clearance fall to Fire with Nakamura on hand to net his second and seal the result.
A late chance fell to Thunder’s Matthew Carey, but he proved trigger-shy in the one-on-one with Fire goalkeeper Antony Hall.
The win is the third straight for Fire as they continue to make amends for an inconsistent start to the campaign, while Thunder remain last in the standings.
South West Queensland Thunder 1 (Ryan ENSOR 49’)
Sunshine Coast Fire 3 (Matt NEEDHAM 25’, Futa NAKAMURA 58’ 84’)
Open Women’s Team:
Sunshine Coast Fire 3 v Annerley 2
A hard fought 2-1 away win against Brisbane team Annerley kept the Fire Open Women’s Team in the top-half of the league.
The teams traded blows in the opening exchanges and it was clear the game would be a close encounter. Both teams were on the attack, but Fire scored first through Samara Christmas in the 12th minute with an excellent finish. The goal enabled the Fire to start playing with more confidence, and look threatening as the girls started to pass the ball with purpose.
In the 34th minute good combination play from Carmel Murphy-Pollard and Samara Christmas allowed Kayla Moore to take a shot from the edge of the 18-yard box.
The game changed in the second-half, as Annerley pushed forward and Fire defended for long periods. A converted penalty from Annerley in the 70th minute meant it was going to be a tense finish. Annerley continued to dominate but the Fire defence, marshalled by Marceena Hunter and goalkeeper Rennee Rudder, held firm for Fire to take the three points.
Under 16 Boys:
Sunshine Coast Fire 6 v SWQ Thunder 3
The Fire Under 16 Boys returned to Toowoomba to avenge their only loss of the season so far. Fire needed the three points to stay on top of the table, and the boys’ desire to win was evident from the first whistle as they started with good intensity, pressing Thunder’s defence. This strong start was rewarded in the sixth minute with a goal to Adam Edgar. Alex van Kampen showed fast feet to beat two defenders on the left-wing and slip a good ball into the penalty area to Sean de Chastel. He provided a perfect cross to Edgar who slotted home from 6 metres.
Fire doubled the lead in the 18th minute; Edgar provided a good pass to van Kampen, who had a neat interchange of passes with Cameron Nairn. Van Kampen was through on goal and only to be brought down from behind and awarded a penalty. Edgar took the penalty and blasted it straight down the middle to take the Fire to a 2-0 lead.
Fire continued to dominate the first-half, forcing Thunder to rely on long, high balls and strong physical play. Fire created chances with smart midfield play from Jordan Vieira. Although forced to reshuffle the backline with an injury to Tyler Morse, Fire looked relatively comfortable in defence as well. In the 30th minute, Fire extended the lead further. Goalkeeper Luke Marker took an excellent goalkick to fire a 35m pass to Sean Pateman. Pateman played a well-weighted through-pass to Edgar who converted his 1v1 with the goalkeeper and completed his first-half hat-trick.
Fire lost concentration just four minutes before half-time to allow Thunder back into the game. Endeavouring to play out from the back, the Fire boys were boxed into the corner and lost possession allowing the Thunder centre forward to hammer a good long-range shot into the top left-hand corner to bring the score to 3 – 1 at half-time.
After losing a three-goal advantage, it was important for the Fire to start the second-half strongly. They did so with new team member Josh Chumbley prominent in his debut showing good composure and touch. In the first 15 minutes of the second-half, Fire had four clear-cut chances but was denied through good goalkeeping. Against the run of play, Thunder pulled the score back to 3-2 in the 58th minute. Some poor playing out from the back put defenders under pressure and from the ensuing turnover, the Thunder right winger crossed the ball to an unmarked forward to slot home a goal.
It didn’t take long for the Fire to wrestle back control of the game with three goals in 10 minutes. In the 63rd minute, Thomas Swane collected possession 35m out from the goal. He found Nairn on the left wing with a good pass. Nairn dribbled past two defenders and scored to restore the two goal buffer for the Fire. Just two minutes later, de Chastel got on the scoresheet. At the end of an attacking raid, Edgar had a powerful shot from the edge of the penalty area. The goalkeeper was unable to hold the shot and de Chastel slotted home the rebound to take the score to 5-2.
In the 74th minute, the Fire was awarded a corner and Vieira found Swane unmarked at the top right-hand corner of the penalty box. Swane faked to cross, drawing out the goalkeeper but instead fired an excellent shot into the near post to make the score 6-2.
However, Thunder pushed to the final whistle. Following a Thunder free-kick, a high-ball into the penalty area saw a goalmouth melee and a Thunder player forced the ball home to leave the final score at 6-3.
This result keeps the Fire at the top of the table but with an important game next week against Palm Beach.
Man of the Match: Adam Edgar
Under 15 Girls:
Sunshine Coast Fire 2 v SWQ Thunder 0
The Fire Under 15 Girls managed to secure three points after a tough away game against SWQ Thunder. Captain Jodie Nugent was still out from her concussion the previous week and was missed on the field.
In a tight first-half, Thunder applied constant pressure to Fire and created opportunities going forward, however the opposition was unable to crack Fire’s defensive five. There were a number of strong performances and combinations that keep Thunder out and kept the majority of play in the Fire’s attacking half. Both teams went into half-time scoreless.
The Fire girls played with determination in the second half and were first on the scoreboard in the 38th minute after a well-struck free kick just inside the attacking half crossed to the right post and, after a few deflections, Michelle le Roux did well to finish with a half volley. Le Roux was brought down in the penalty area in the 45th minute and stepped up to cement her brace and take the score to 2-0.
Under 15 Boys:
Sunshine Coast Fire 7 v SWQ Thunder 1
Fire again travelled to Toowoomba, with the loss the boys suffered only a few weeks ago to the same opposition fresh in their minds. The Fire squad knew it was going to be difficult with harsh conditions, a long bus trip and the difficulty of playing on the SWQ Thunder home pitch. However, the Fire boys had great preparation for the game with a win in the previous Round and some good training sessions leading into this fixture.
Fire started quite poorly as Thunder pressed very high, preventing the Fire boys from receiving the ball facing forward. This caused all sorts of problems defensively and allowed Thunder to score early and then create another few chances; one hit the woodwork and another pulled out the best in Fire keeper Tom Anderson who dived to his right pulling off an incredible 1v1 save. This save seemed to be the turning point for Anderson showed great form for the rest of the game, and it showed that Fire meant business. In the 23rd minute Kobe Fuller took a quick free-kick and played a neat ball in to Oli Blackmore who turned, dropped the shoulder and beat his marker to place a stunning strike past the keeper. In the 36th minute the Fire extended the lead as Jack Bowen latched onto a great ball from Ty Dawson and buried his shot into goal. The score was 2-1 at half-time.
After a slow start to the first-half, the Fire dominated the second-half. The Fire’s back four were comfortable with the assistance of Man of the Match, Anderson, who was commanding his area with maturity.
Josh Nisbet scored a great individual goal in the 43rd minute and ten minutes later Kye Yamaoka-Chapman put Fire further ahead with a goal which Coach Dan Carew said would be a contender for goal of the year; as he fired a tremendous volley from 20-yards out to leave the Thunder keeper grasping at thin air.
Fire looked at ease from this point, keeping shape and defending well. Anderson released Reeves down the right in the 71st minute to run the full legth of the field, beat two markers and dart past the left back to smash home a shot from just outside the box. Reeves was again on the score sheet five minutes later as Jack Bowen received a killer-pass and played the ball past the keeper for Reeves to steal Bowen’s thunder and smash it home from close-range. Shortly afterward Nisbet was unlucky not to get his hat trick when he struck the apex with a cheeky shot inside the area.
Coach Daniel Carew said it was brilliant to come home with a win but most importantly a good performance from his team.
“We had to work hard and in the second-half, we really got stuck in to give SWQ Thunder no chance of getting back in the game,” he said.
“The back four; Callum Jones, Jake Nalder, Mason Bell , Brad Ellis and Abe Reevs were solid and to see our keeper Tom step up and really command that back third was brilliant. It set the platform for our midfield and attack to be more creative.”
Man of the Match: Tom Anderson – he was clinical in goal and grabbed an assist with his quick release to Abe Reeves.
Under 12 Boys:
Sunshine Coast Fire 3 v SWQ Thunder 2
The Fire’s second trip to Toowoomba saw much better conditions for the boys to play in. Thunder is a solid, hard-working team and Fire expected a tough game, which was exactly what they got.
The Fire boys were strong from the first whistle and within 3 minutes were ahead. After a foul in midfield, Harry Arnison sailed a ball high over the keeper directly from the free-kick; 1-0 to Fire.
However, from this point the Fire struggled to break down Thunder, and when they did, they found a dogged defence and a keeper in great form. One instinct-save from point-blank range was truly exceptional.
Thunder equalised with a strong finish. Fire keeper Ben Potter did well to get across and partly block the shot but the striker fired the ball hard and low underneath him.
Thunder scored again bringing the half-time score to Fire 1, SWQ Thunder 2. Coach Peter Higginson said he was glad for a chance to talk to his players at half-time.
“We needed to increase our work-rate off the ball and work for each other so I was glad to get the boys in to settle them down and re-focus for the 2nd half challenge,” he said.
Fire spent most of the second-half in Thunder’s half and looked the more dominant side. However the boys were frustrated by more strong tackles, good defence and a keeper who had another good half.
The pressure from Fire turned into many corners and free-kicks. Sam Aitken headed the equaliser from a Brodie Boyce corner, timing his run nicely and sending the ball back across the keeper to wrong foot him.
Fire scored the winning goal shortly afterwards. After another foul and free-kick, Harry Arnison provided a good cross into the box, and there was Jack Beardsley to steer the ball home.
Thunder rallied to the last 5 minutes, putting Fire under pressure with numerous corners and leaving the Fire supporters biting their nails. But the boys dug in and with some relief the final whistle blew.
“Not the best performance,” Higginson said, “With the Fire struggling to dominate possession like we normally do. But sometimes you get games like this. Maybe it was the long journey? Maybe the very early goal led to complacency? Maybe it was just one of those days? But an under-rated Thunder will always be tough on their home soil.”
“We needed three goals from three dead-ball situations – this sums up the game. Dominance without the usual team flair,” he said.
“There were lots of positives though – the second-half determination and work-rate, a never-give-up attitude, three good finishes and always trying to play the right way. This is a lot for a coach to be happy about, with some areas to work on before Palm Beach next week.”
