Under 12 Boys
SWQ Thunder FC (1) v Sunshine Coast Fire (4)
Travelling to Toowoomba can often be tricky with the journey and cold, and Thunder looking to avenge their earlier defeat whilst playing in their stadium game.
A perfect start though to settle the boys early…27 seconds and 1v0. An early ball wide to Debbage who beat his player and cross nicely to Gaske who timed his run and met the ball and finished with a good finish sweeping the ball past the keeper. (1v0, 27 seconds)
Not too long to wait until the second. This time, Smith with good distribution and Gaske returned the favour for Debbage by beating 3 players into the box before squaring to Debbage who finished with ease. (2v0)
Thunder grabbed a goal before HT. Despite an outstanding tackle from Williams in midfield, the ball was turned over and the Thunder striker finished over Salih. (2v1, HT)
Whilst Fire were on top and looked comfortable, we never really looked slick and only 3 pass strings (of 5) in the 1H confirmed we could keep possession more.
The second half was similar with Fire dominating (60% possession) but without ever finding their best against a determined Thunder.
Fire continued to defend really well and pressed through midfield but it took a while for the settler to come. Rzoska with a good dispossessing tackle in midfield to win the ball before opening the play down the left. The ball found its way to Smith who finished coolly over the GK. (3v1)
Soon after the game was put to bed. Another run from Smith who was causing havoc on the wing. Another intelligent ball, to Gaske who struck the ball well. The ball hit the bar and Petcos tapped in the rebound. (4v1, FT)
So a solid win after the travel. Fire played well in parts and defended well and generally looked stronger, but we could have kept possession more and played better as a unit.
All the defenders played well today – this was the foundation for the win. And pleased to see us getting the ball wide more today, and when we did Smith, Debbage and Petcos looked dangerous taking on their FBs and setting up goals.
Player of the Match: Jonah Roberts
Under 13 Boys
SWQ Thunder FC (0) v Sunshine Coast Fire (1)
*Not yet submitted
Under 13 Girls
UQFC (4) v Sunshine Coast Fire (2)
*Not yet submitted
Under 14 Boys
SWQ Thunder FC (0) v Sunshine Coast Fire (6)
Second place Fire took on last place Thunder away. Fire must be at their best to travel away and show up to play or an upset could be likely.
The game started at a very slow pace with neither team willing to step into gear with plenty of missed cued passes and wayward shots at goal.
Fire slowly picked up the intensity after the 20 minute mark with a few changes made and then the combinations started to appear and the Fire looked dangerous out wide.
The pressure took its toll on the young Thunder side, with the first break through coming from a set piece corner with Owen Brader attacking the ball leaving the Thunder keeper flat footed; followed with another two goals within the next three minutes. Owen Brader finding his second with a comfortable finish and Budd Baublys on the end of another corner with a tidy finish at far post, giving Fire a comfortable lead and Thunder wondering what had happened.
In the second half, the team was set some new tasks and looked to improve on where they left off.
Passes were hitting their target and it wasn’t long before the team’s marksman Daniel Cuttler found his first goal of the game after a breakaway run from Owen Brader finding space to play and a killer pass on the edge of the area, put Cuttler 1v1 with the Thunder keeper and made no mistake in finishing.
At 4-0 the game had settled down and the Fire put on one of their best passing performances of the year. Looking after possession and being patient in build-up, however failing on several occasions to convert.
Daniel Cuttler found a second wind of energy and created himself some space on the corner of the box to curl a well-placed shot beyond the keeper’s reach and notch his second goal and a well-deserved rest. The game was coming to the end and chances were flowing with plenty of possession and chances in the attacking third.
It was Tom Whittaker who would finish off the goal scoring with a rocket shot from the edge of the box, rebounding off the underside of the crossbar, bouncing down and back up into the top of the net.
It was great to see the boys control the ball and the game after an initial slow start. The team will look forward to a well-deserved rest before they lace up against Brisbane City at home in a top of the table clash in a fortnight.
Player of the Match: Owen Brader
Under 15 Boys
SWQ Thunder FC (1) v Sunshine Coast Fire (2)
The Sunshine Coast Fire made the long trek out to Toowoomba on a cool Saturday afternoon to meet SWQ Thunder.
On a difficult pitch, Sunshine Coast took a while to settle with some poor passing and control letting them down early, however on 7 minutes some good individual skill from Terone Wattegedara and some good link play from Taj Suffolk and Tyson Williams gave us our first chance of the match with a shot going just wide after a nice effort from Williams.
On 22 minutes the deadlock was broken after Wattegedara found Tyson Williams who set up Brayden Huston for a long range effort that looped over the SWQ keeper and into the net to give Fire a somewhat fortuitous lead.
The best chance of the half fell to SWQ, after a sloppy pass was intercepted and a good run from the SWQ midfielder saw him with a 1 on 1 chance but Lachlan Bosworth pulled off a very good save to keep the scores at 1-0.
After a slow start the last ten minutes of the half saw Fire begin to take more control of the match and a good long ball from Max Foottit found Kurtis Modlin whose cross just evaded the oncoming strikers before Fire gained a 2 goal advantage after another through ball found Modlin, and his pace saw him past the defence before rounding the keeper for a tap in in the best move of the match so far.
The first twenty minutes of the second half saw Fire play their best football of the match and we probably should have added a goal or two to the lead.
Chances were created with some great lead up play, but the SWQ keeper made good saves from Wattegedara, Modlin and Tom Croft to keep the score at 2-0.
SWQ slowly got themselves back into the contest though as Fire once again gave the ball away cheaply in poor areas and Dave Payne in goal had a busy few minutes before finally being beaten in the 70th minute. Some good play out wide from SWQ created a 2v1 and a cross into the box found the Toowoomba striker who finished well to make the score line 2-1.
To their credit the Fire boys didn’t panic with the tighter score line and were able to create more chances late on with Kurtis Modlin and Brayden Huston both having shots saved.
In the end the score finished 2-1, in what wasn’t the best of performances from Sunshine Coast.
Player of the Match: Tyson Williams
Under 15 Girls
UQFC () v Sunshine Coast Fire ()
*Not yet submitted
Under 16 Boys
SWQ Thunder FC (0) v Sunshine Coast Fire (4)
It was a relatively mild mid-winter evening for Toowoomba at the 4.30pm kick off and despite the scattered cloud any showers held off for the duration of the game. The first round clash at home between SWQ Thunder and the Fire saw the Fire finish strongly to win 3-1 and the Fire were looking to make it four wins in a row.
Fire were also looking to start as strongly as they have been finishing in recent games and settled into a steady passing game, building momentum from the back through midfield possession.
After 2 minutes Kobe Fuller found himself in space at the edge of the box and his shot rattled the cross-bar, bounced down and up into the arms of the grateful Thunder keeper. It all happened too quickly for the officials to determine if the ball had crossed the line so it was play on.
At the 10 minute mark neither team had forced the pace of the game despite the many little battles for possession with Fire making the most of their possession working the ball across their defence looking to find space to get forward.
The game turned at the 16th minute when a Thunder attacking player was sent off for something he said to the referee.
Despite the extra man Fire were not able to immediately take advantage of the situation; however they did begin to create more goal scoring opportunities. Fire hit the cross bar for the second time in the 19th minute when Matt Cann’s shot bounced down and out in a repeat of Kobe Fuller’s earlier effort. A minute later a passing exchange from Ollie Blackmore to Aiden Ward and back found Ollie in space but his shot passed just over the bar. Fire came closer in the 22 minute when a poor roll out from the Thunder keeper put his defender under pressure who returned an equally poor back pass to his keeper. Matt Cann was on hand to challenge but the ball fell awkwardly for Aiden Ward and he was only able to steer the ball over the bar.
As the floodlights became fully effective after 25 minutes, the Fire’s numeric advantage was allowing them to dominate territory and possession more and more as Thunder sacrificed an attacker and dropped back deeper to defend.
In the 28th minute Kobe Fuller put Jack Bowen into space on the right and Jack’s shot absolutely pinged off the base of the post into the back of the diving Thunder keeper and away for a corner.
Still no breakthrough came for the Fire as the game meandered a little until the 37th minute when Ollie Blackmore beat several defenders and fired off what proved a difficult low shot for the Thunder keeper, He could only parry the ball into the path of Matt Cann who finished from close range to make it 1-0 to the Fire to take the advantage into half time.
Fire started the second half in a positive mood and enjoyed the majority of possession. They continued their good passing game of the first half but had little pressure on the ball as Thunder sat deeper. At times Fire were in danger of losing focus and one or two passes were not finding their man.
Fire needed to break up the deep defence of the Thunder and although Fire looked comfortably in control they were creating only a small number of chances.
It wasn’t until the 59th minute when Kye Yamaoka-Chapman from wide on the right played a pin point diagonal ball onto the head of Jack Bowen making a run into the box. Jack made no mistake finding the back of the net with the momentum of his run and the accuracy of the ball from Kye. Great goal Fire to make it 2-0.
Thunder had done well up until now to contain Fire with only 10 men but the second goal saw their resistance slip. In the 63rd minute Kobe Fuller took a high floating free kick on the right outside the box and Jack Bowen was again on the spot with a header, but this time headed across to Matt Cann who found the net from close range for his brace and 3-0 to the Fire.
In the 71st minute Abe Reeves made the most of his speed on the right and played a low flat ball to Callum Jones in space at the far post. Callum latched onto the cross with a sweetly struck goal bound volley however the Thunder keeper only managed to deflect it into the path of the advancing Matt Cann who was on the spot to score to complete his hat-trick and make it 4-0 to the Fire.
In the final minute Callum Jones was brought down just outside the box on the right. Everyone was expecting another floating free kick but Kobe Fuller played a square pass to Aiden Ward who drilled a low shot at goal. The Thunder keeper parried the ball at the feet of James Beckman who had come forward from central defence for the kick, but his big moment to get on the score sheet vanished when he failed to control the ball.
Player of the Match: Matt Cann
Under 18 Boys
Olympic FC (4) v Sunshine Coast Fire (1)
*Not yet submitted
Youth Women
UQFC (2) v Sunshine Coast Fire (6)
The Fire girls bounced back this week producing a powerful performance that had them leading by two goals at half time. The first goal was scored by Brooke in the 16th minute after receiving a ball through mid-field and making one of many penetrating runs up the wing before cutting in and beating the defenders and goalkeeper.
Brooke scored her second goal for the match in the 39th minute after an excellent cross by Warren was picked up by Jess Bender who beat the defender and crossed the ball to the far post where Brooke powered in to put the ball into the back of the net.
Warren had an electric second half, scoring three goals in just 6 minutes of play. The mid field combined well in the second half and delivered a number of combination passes and through balls that Warren chased down with her trade mark determination and courage to score three times.
The sixth goal was scored by Chelsea Long a loan player from Kawana club. Brooke took a free kick from near to the corner crossing the goal to the far post where Chelsea produced a classy header to score.
UQ played with great determination and physicality and managed to score in the 9th minute and again late in the second half from a free kick just on the edge of the penalty area.
Player of the Match: Emily Walkerdenridge
