First Team:
Sunshine Coast Fire 0 v Harimau Muda “A” 2
Harimua Muda “A” broke a four-round streak of losses with a 2-0 defeat of Sunshine Coast FC on Sunday at Stockland Park Western Fields.
Muhammad Syazwan Andik Mohd Is opened accounts for the Malaysian International team in the 56th minute and Ferris Danial Mat Nasir sealed the result in the 65th minute.
Fire maintained the majority of possession in the early minutes of teh game, gaining a significant amount of territory, however neither team created any significant chances.
Both teams struggled to connect with passes in the windy conditions early on.
Shiochi Koshimizu created the first real chance for the Fire in the 11th minute with an aerial ball across the box, forcing a save from Harimau Muda keeper Mohamad Firduas Muhamad. Harimua Muda fired back soon afterwards, but Fire keeper Sam Nickolls saved Mohamad Ghazli’s shot.
The Fire players exploited the flanks, but were unable to connect to anything inside the box; in the 15th minute Mohamad fumbled Reyze Kelly’s cross but the defence sprang into action before Fire could finish, moments later Paul Arnison delivered a free kick which Muhamad palmed over the crossbar.
Mat Nasir’s shot slid wide of the net in the 17th minute, before he was awarded a penalty in the 35th minute. Abu Hassan stepped up to shoot just over the crossbar.
The half came to an end with a nil-all scoreline and both sides struggling to create clear-cut chances.
Fire’s dominance on the flanks continued in the second-half with chances crafted as a result of plays from wide positions.
In the 51st minute defender Brock Messenger was brought down in a wide area with a heavy tackle. The resulting penalty saw the Fire play the ball across the penalty area several times without reward.
In the 56th minute Harimau Muda created the first goal of the game after Nickolls lost control of the ball 8 yards out of his goal as two Harimau Muda players challenged him. Muhammad Syazwan Andik Mohd Is latched on the ball and toe-poked it home from close range. The Fire players’ appeals for an infringement on the goal keeper but were not successful.
In the 63rd minute Mat Nasir picked up a through-ball on the edge of the penalty area and blasted a shot past Nickolls, which bounced into goal off the underside of the cross-bar. Fire players appealed to the referee for an offside ruling on the through-ball and were unsuccessful.
Clear chances were few; Muhamad palmed away Arnison’s 75th minute free-kick to the top-left and Messenger headed wide from the resulting corner.
Several decisions from the referee throughout the half were disputed by the Fire players, resulting in Arnison being warned about dissent towards the end of the half.
Chances fell to Nakamura, whose header hit the post in the 80th minute; Wade Zammit, whose 30-yard shot was saved and header went over the bar; and Kelly who shot wide in the 90th minute. However, Harmimau Muda held on to the 2-0 lead to take the three points.
Sunshine Coast Fire 0
Harimau Muda A 2 (Muhammad Syazwan Andik Mohd Is 57’, Ferris Danial Mat Nasir 63’)
Under 16 Boys:
Sunshine Coast Fire 3 v Palm Beach 0
Match report by Anthony Hough and Manager Brett de Chastel.
The Under 16 Boys were looking to regain momentum when they returned to take on the third placed Palm Beach team, with memories of the last visit which resulted in a tight 1 – 1 draw fresh in mind.
The Fire started brightly, pressing the Palm Beach defensive line and limiting time and space for Palm Beach to play out from the back. By the 12th minute, Fire had created a number of good chances with Cameron Nairn hitting the crossbar and forcing the keeper make a great save from another strong shot.
In the 16th minute, the Palm Beach keeper was again forced into a save when Alex Van Kampen had a cracking shot with the outside of his left foot. Van Kampen did not have to wait long to go one better; Fire took the lead in the 19th minute when Sean Pateman drove into the midfield and passed to Timi Ajibola, who pushed a good pass to Van Kampen. Van Kampen finished brilliantly with a well struck right-foot shot.
Fire defended well for the rest of the first-half while Sharks used the strong wind to fire long balls in behind the Fire defence. Good work from defenders Hayden Lawson and Tyler Morse in particular kept the attackers at bay.
The start of the second-half was similar to the first, however Fire showed more urgency and penetration especially down the flanks where Kaileb Hough and Sean Pateman overlapped.
In the 53rd minute, Fire doubled the lead. Ajibola was fouled, and well-worked free-kick saw Ari Easton run over the ball and allow Adam Edgar to fire a hard shot past the four-man wall into the right-hand side of the goal.
Shortly afterwards, Palm Beach has a good chance to pull a goal back but an outstanding save from Luke Marker to his left kept the Fire clean sheet intact. The play was fairly even from this point with both teams intent on attack, but the Fire showing more urgency and discipline in defence. The Palm Beach players were becoming frustrated with the tight defence and received a series of yellow cards.
Any chance that Palm Beach may have had was snuffed out in the 78th minute, when Fire played Edgar into space behind the defensive line and made sure of his 1 v1 finish with his right foot to bring the final score to 3-0.
This was a good result for Fire, who turned on a strong defensive performance on a difficult surface and in windy conditions to clearly outperform Palm Beach across the park. Fire is now two points behind competition leaders Brisbane Strikers, with a game in hand.
Man of the Match – Tyler Morse
Under 15 Boys
Sunshine Coast Fire 3 v Palm Beach 1
Match report by Coach Daniel Carew
The Fire Under 15 Boys met Palm Beach Sharks for the third time this season with a point to prove after losing the two previous encounters.
After a brilliant week in training with guest Central Mariners defender Zach Anderson the Fire squad was ready to make a statement against the Sharks.
Fire started the match strongly and could have taken the lead in the first minute when some great combination play from Abe Reeves, Jez Lofthouse and Jack Bowen opened up Palm Beach for a decent chance.
Fire looked to keep the pressure on with brilliant defending from the front forcing multiple mistakes as the Sharks grew impatient. The pressure paid off for Fire in the 22nd minute when Lofthouse picked out Kobe Fuller who then released a rampant Reeves who calmly finished.
Another chance arose when some good build up play in the final third from Josh Nisbet, Fuller and Ty Dawson saw a ball played to attacking fullback Callum Jones, who delivered an inch-perfect ball that beat the keeper and was sailing into the goal, before Bowen latched onto it and sent his header over.
Just a minute later some individual brilliance from Josh Nisbet saw him jink in towards the 18 yard box to release a stunning strike which hit the underside of the cross bar and back the of the keeper leaving him grasping at thin air. Fire went into half-time with a 2-0 lead.
After the break Fire were keen to add to the tally but it was Palm Beach who put the foot down and pressed the Fire in the first 10 minutes, forcing a few sloppy mistakes and some poor decision making. This almost cost the Fire when keeper Josh Wall dwelled on the ball too long and was tackled in his box. Fortunately he recovered well and got a goal kick. After this the Fire steadied and returned to controlling possession and looking to open up the Palm Beach back four.
Fire’s efforts were rewarded in the 52nd minute when midfielder Reis Hanton took a touch and steadied himself to hit a thunderous strike from 40 yards out which flew into the top corner and left the keeper scrambling.
Fire had a few more chances to extend the lead, however against the run of play Palm Beach was the next on the scoreboard at the expense of right back Reeves, who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time as the Palm Beach striker smashed his shot of the crossbar and into Reeves to bounce into the net.
Shortly afterwards a great counter-attack from Fire left Fuller 1v1 with the Palm Beach centre back as Dawson made a great overlapping run. However Fuller looked to beat the centre back on his own and the defender replied with a brilliant challenge.
In the last few minutes of the game Fire held off any comeback from Palm Beach and clinched a deserved three points and a big boost of confidence.
Coach Dan Carew said his team had put in a brilliant performance.
“They got stuck in, were disciplined and held their structure well. We worked a lot on our approach to this game and it was brilliant to see us stick to the game plan and all the hard work pay off.”
“It was also fantastic having Zach Anderson at training especially for the back four to get a feel of how a professional footballer conducts himself. I think it rubbed off on Mason Bell the most as his performance today was fantastic, he really commanded his back four with leadership which was something Zach hadspoken to him about.”
Man of the Match: Mason bell – a true Captain’s performance, he showed great maturity and composure.
Under 12 Boys:
Sunshine Coast Fire 5 v Palm Beach 1
The Fire Under 12 Boys faced another road trip, another cold 9am kick-off and a chance to play a team in the QLD NPL we were yet to beat on Sunday.
The Fire started strongly and dominated the early stage of the game with wave after wave of attack. It took just seven minutes to open the scoring; Jack Beardsley sent a neat ball through to Luke Varga who fired his shot past the keeper low into the corner.
This was the theme of the first-half with pressure on Palm Beach throughout, although Palm Beach improved and did have a few good spells and Fire gave some needless fouls away around the box. On 24 minutes Palm Beach took one of these opportunities with a good direct strike which went in off the cross-bar to level the score.
On the stroke of half-time, Varga returned the favour to Beardsley with an inside ball which he squeezed in at the near post to restore Fire’s lead.
After the restart the Fire backline had their only lapse of composure and when the ball fell to the Palm Beach striker he fired a powerful shot on goal, only to see Fire keeper Ben Potter pull off a great save to his left. Coach Peter Higginson identified this as a key moment in the match as the game could have been very different at 2-all on 31mins. After the save, the Fire boys kicked on and took control of the half.
On 34 minutes, Byron Faleono pounced on a chance inside the box and fired a low shot past the keeper for a good striker’s finish.
Just four minutes later, Faleono struck again to effectively seal the victory. Fire had another good interchange and the ball fell to Faleono 25 metres out from goal. The ball sat up nicely and he caught it sweetly, striking with power and sailing his shot over the Palm Beach keeper for a cracking goal.
With a 4-1 lead, Fire camped around the opposition box for most of the remainder of the game. Kye Stopka scored the final goal of the game, shooting from the edge of a crowded box and into the left corner.
Fire saw the game out with a 4-goal buffer; Joel Tuite did well late on to identify the danger and clear off the line to deny Palm Beach a consolation goal.
Higginson said his team put in a good performance and worked well together.
“Some of our moves were high quality. I’m very pleased with all the boys today – I could literally mention each player. They all stepped up and delivered and played as a team.”
Man of the Match: Ben Potter – flawless in goal, good handling and a quality save at a key moment in the match. Byron Faleano – two deserved goals after hard work and never giving up.
