Under 12 Boys – Western Pride FC (1) v Sunshine Coast FC (6)
Fire came out strong, immediately pressing on Western Pride’s defence, hungry for their first goal which came on the 6th minute. A corner by Sam Klein, followed in with a header by Kane Gibbs and Fire were on the scoreboard.
Pride recomposed and attacked quickly placing pressure on Fire’s defence. Matthew Becker, Jack Connors and Josh Whisker held strong and pushed forward, with the team implementing strategies to maintain possession and move the ball around the pitch. Fire’s second goal came on the 21st minute with a shot by Klein to take Fire up 2-0.
A half time talk and Fire were quick to place another result on the board when returning to the pitch. Kyle Barnes took the ball up the right wing and a successful shot on goal on the 33rd minute, Fire 3-0.
As play continued Pride took their chances and took the Fire defence by surprise scoring on the 40th minute. Fire 3-1.
Fire responded quickly with Jake Rocker breaking through two defenders to score Fire’s 4th goal on the 42nd minute. Fire 4-1. The momentum continued with another Fire goal by Kyan Bryant two minutes later. Fire 5-1. Fire finished out the game with a goal on the 58th minute by Gibbs. Final score Fire 6-1.
Player of the Match: Matthew Becker – demonstrating commitment and persistence.
Under 13 Boys – Western Pride FC (3) v Sunshine Coast FC (2)
In perfect conditions for football, Fire were keen to atone for their last outing against Redlands. It only took five minutes for the first opportunity to arise. After a quick midfield passing exchange Alex Patterson found space just within the 18 yard box and unfortunately his effort drifted just wide. An even game saw both sides creating half chances early on. After 10 minutes Western Pride were awarded a free kick out wide. A perfect cross was headed towards the bottom corner only for the Fire keeper to pull off an amazing save.
Fire began to gain the upper hand as they didn’t allow Pride to settle on the ball and some great attacking runs from Jake Debbage and Matt Gaske on the wing were starting to turn the Pride defence. Excellent high defending from Liam Macmillan and Jake Ellenberger stopped the Pride wingers from feeding their #9 who was being closely marked by the centre back pairing of Jacob Lombardo and Todd Camm. Lombardo in particular tightly marked Pride’s Striker which allowed Camm to intercept quite a few passes and drive into the midfield. From one of these runs Camm tried to slice the Pride defence, only for the ball to deflect off a Pride defender into the path of Gaske. With a perfectly placed shot into the top far corner Gaske made it 1-0.
Aaron Smith was beginning to insert himself in the game finding space between the lines and an excellent shot with 10 minutes left in the half was unfortunately hit straight at the keeper. Another great combination involving Patterson and Smith found Gaske on the right wing. A perfect decoy run around the outside from Ellenberger allowed Gaske time to shoot, however his effort drifted just wide. To finish the half Liam ‘Hollywood’ Macmillan entertained the crowd with reverse flick to bamboozle two Pride players. 1-0 at the break.
The second half started badly for Fire as an early error levelled the score after two minutes. Fire continued to play positive football and a great long range effort from Debbage nearly restored Fire’s advantage. However, another goal from Pride put them ahead for the first time in the game. Jayden Emery showed everyone his class with a fantastic weaving run and then slid an angled ball through to Patterson to allow him a one on one opportunity with the keeper. Unfortunately the keeper deflected the ball wide off his leg. Shortly after, Fire were awarded a free kick. Pat Simpson curled the cross behind the Pride defense where Gaske rose above the pack to head towards the top corner of the goal. Another fine save from the Pride keeper helped maintain their lead.
After 53 minutes Pride found themselves 3-1 up. From a corner their centre back glanced a header between two defenders and into the back of the net. Fire showed great determination as they pressed for another goal. Lombardo and Camm continued to make driving runs into the midfield, Aryon Ramos combined nicely with the players around him and found himself behind the defense several times and the midfield battled constantly to try and gain Fire the upper hand. With eight minutes to go Fire were awarded a free kick 30 yards out. After a great free kick last week, Smith added to his goal tally by again scoring from distance. The last period of the game found Fire desperately searching for a deserved equaliser, however it wasn’t to be.
Player of the Match: Todd Camm & Jake Debbage
Under 13 Girls – University of Queensland FC (1) v Sunshine Coast FC (4)
Round 21 of the 2016 season saw University of Queensland take on Sunshine Coast Fire at University of Queensland St Lucia campus in Brisbane. The weather was quite hot putting extra pressure on the girls.
Sunshine Coast Fire open the scoring early in the first half through a great though ball from Emily Roach which found Jordyn Weckert unmarked however the ball fell short of Weckert and found Audrey Upston’s feet. Upston then put a through ball to Courtney Brunner who placed the ball into the back of the net. Fire soon scored again by Roach pouncing on a mistake by the UQ back line who received the ball on the 18 yard box to find the top corner of the goal with an excellent strike. The first half the score ended and the score was 2-0 to Sunshine Coast Fire.
Fire opened the second half strong and once again found the back of the back of the net from a slick passing combination between Upston and Maddie who once again found Brunner unmarked. Then shortly after, UQ found the back of the net with excellent individual run straight though the Fire defence. However, Fire once again found the net an excellent through ball from Upston to Maddie who beat one player and found the net.
Credit must go to both teams as they both played extremely well and UQ never gave up providing Sunshine Coast Fire with a tough game. The score ended 4-1 to Sunshine Coast Fire. Credit must go to all the girls for continuing their impressive winning streak and NPL Title.
Under 14 Boys – Western Pride FC (3) v Sunshine Coast FC (4)
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Under 15 Boys – Western Pride FC (2) v Sunshine Coast FC (3)
A bright sunny day saw Fire travel to Ipswich hoping to turn around a couple of unlucky results in recent weeks. The match seemed to get off to a perfect start as Harry Fletcher volleyed in a Kaelan Debbage free kick in the first minute, however it was offside and scores stayed level.
Western Pride started brightly, and were dangerous in possession, as Fire were giving their opponent way too much time and space on the ball. This resulted in some chances, however Eligh Williams was once again strong in the Fire goal and produced a couple of good one on one saves. Fire also were playing some neat combinations and had chances with a Tom Whittaker cross, headed over by Nathan Thompson and Lachlan Tolpitt shooting over the bar after a good run.
On 23 minutes Pride took the lead as they waltzed through the centre and after a ricochet or two the ball was dispatched by the Pride forward. Fire replied instantly from the kick off with a fine pass from Harry Arnison finding Kaelan Debbage who finished clinically from 18 yards.
Fire began to gain ascendancy from this point and had a number of chances. A Debbage through ball to Tom Whittaker was chipped over the bar and a number of times Fire got into good position out wide only for the final pass to let us down.
Just prior to half time Tom Whittaker gave Fire the lead after a good run and finish.
The second half saw Fire try to organise a little better defensively, with the coach really happy that the boys were able to identify exactly what hadn’t been working in the first half.
This resulted in a better defensive performance in the second half, and it was Fire who took control of the game with some free kicks giving opportunities, along with some good build up play through the midfield.
On 12 minutes a well worked free kick saw Fire make it 3-1 as Sean Bentley headed home after Harry Fletcher nodded back a Kaelan Debbage free kick.
The game petered out a little from this point as Fire failed to push on and look for more goals. In the end this would cause problems as a Pride corner on 34 minutes saw Beau Boucher head off the line before a goal mouth scramble ended with Pride hitting the net and making the score 3-2.
A nervy final 5 minutes was handled fairly well by Fire and in the end they ran out as the deserved winners.
Under 15 Girls – University of Queensland FC (3) v Sunshine Coast FC (0)
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Under 16 Boys – Western Pride FC (4) v Sunshine Coast FC (0)
Both teams were sitting in the middle of the table and had to win to move up to not fall away from the leaders.
In the 10th minute the ball was lost in the centre of the pitch by Sunshine Coast FC. Western Pride then counter attacked quickly beating the midfield and a ball was passed through to Ju-Ho Lee who neatly slotted the ball past the keeper.
On the 17th minute Western Pride started a great play from the back of their own half passing the ball from one side of the field to the other and skilfully keeping the ball with one two passes until they reached Fire’s 18 yard box and Jacob Advaney received a pass on his right hand side and shot low and hard into the corner of the goals.
On the 57th minute Western Pride attacked down their left hand side and the winger crossed the ball into the 6 yard box and Frank Kabalu chested the ball down and shot hard to beat the keeper for their third goal.
On the 71st minute Western Pride pressed high up on the Sunshine Coast defenders and won the ball and a great cross was swung into the goal area and Darren Barton got to the ball first and slotted it past the goal keeper for their fourth goal and final goal.
Player of the Match: Sam Moore
