Resurgent Strikers Under-21s Into Grand Final

Saturday 5th Sep, 2009

The Brisbane Strikers Under-21s marched into a Grand Final rematch with arch-rivals Redlands City Devils next Friday with a convincing 3-0 win over the QAS at Perry Park last night.

Anchored by a watertight defence, fuelled by a workmanlike and occasionally incisive midfield, and spearheaded by a forward line that converted enough of its chances on the night, the Strikers were much too strong for a QAS line-up that huffed and puffed but could not produce a cutting edge. Goals from Myles Carseldine, Warren Moon and Jason Shade did the damage on the scoreboard as the Strikers made light of the disappointment of their major semi-final loss last to the Devils last Thursday.

The home side got away to a flying start when, in the sixth minute, left back Myles Carseldine sprinted forward to stride on to a pass and beat two defenders before unleashing a skimming shot that had too much pace on it for QAS goalkeeper Tim Anderson, who threw himself in vain to his left as the ball went crashing into the corner of his net.

The Strikers could have gone two ahead only a minute later when Jordan Corte got free down the right to take the ball to the byline and cut the ball back for Dylan Milne, but Mylne’s uncontested shot from ten metres was slightly miscued and allowed Anderson to drop gratefully on the ball.

As the Strikers continued to cut the QAS defence to pieces on the flanks, Corte became the next player to miss a goal scoring opportunity when his attempted left footed finish to a similar cut back from Carseldine on the left flank failed to get a clean contact, allowing Anderson to again save when he might have expected to be picking the ball out of the back of the net.

The QAS had been overwhelmed in the opening quarter of the match but briefly threatened when, having won a corner kick on the left touchline, the ball was delivered low towards the near post and striker Jamal Spelta produced a moment of improvisation, flicking the ball up to swivel and shoot on the volley, sending the ball only centimetres over Strikers goalkeeper Brendan White’s crossbar.

Shortly afterwards the Strikers looked to have doubled their lead when Warren Moon curled a low free kick from just outside the penalty area from a wide left position inside Anderson’s far post. But the ‘goal’ was ruled out by referee Chris Appelt for an infringement inside the penalty area.

It mattered not for Moon and his team, however, because in the thirty-sixth minute the Strikers won a free kick in a more central position just a metre outside the QAS penalty area. This time Moon made the defensive wall set up by the QAS look somewhat less than adequate when he nonchalantly curled the ball around it and inside Anderson’s far post, with the goalkeeper having barely moved, to make the score 2-0.

Midfielder Tom Inoue missed with a shot from twenty metres after a Carseldine layoff and Corte forced a good save from Anderson as the Strikers continued to make the pace, but the score remained 2-0 until the half time break – reflecting forty-five minutes in which the home side had been dominant and had outshot the visitors by a ratio of four to one.

The QAS began the second half with a mountain to climb if they were to keep their hopes of a Grand Final berth alive. Climbing it would have meant turning the contest on its head, but although they had at least an even share of possession in the second half the QAS found it difficult to penetrate on the flanks and, when they did so, the Strikers’ central defensive pairing of Matija Simic and Jimmy Christou were in a stingey mood.

It could have been different, however, if a forty-seventh minute QAS raid had produced a better outcome. A long ball was played from the half way line over the Strikers’ momentarily frozen back four, allowing substitute QAS midfielder Josh Brillante to run behind the defence to bring the ball down with the deftest of touches. White was perhaps a little slow in reading the danger and coming off his line, but he did enough to baulk Brillante who, spotting White looming large in the periphery of his vision, stabbed the outside of his right foot to the ball only to see it roll wide of White’s left upright with the goal beckoning.

Shortly afterwards Inoue went close to extending the Strikers’ lead when, after a move down the Strikers’ left touchline involving Carseldine and Corte, the ball was squared to the midfielder. But his right-footed foot, although struck powerfully from twenty metres, was a few centimetres too high.

As the second half reached its midway point with the scoreline unmoved the visitors became more desperate, and Brillante and Dylan Roberts found themselves yellow-carded for late tackles before Strikers substitute Jason Shade rubbed salt into their wounds with a coolly-taken goal shortly after coming on in place of Corte. As the ball was played through the middle of the park by the Strikers Shade ran on to it, touched it past the advancing Anderson and beat a desperate attempted slide tackle by a covering defender to shoot into an empty net in the seventieth minute.

The contest was as good as over, but the QAS were perhaps unfortunate not to bag a consolation goal when defender Ryan Mottin strode forward to deliver a teasing through-ball towards the Strikers’ penalty spot where Timothy Dunn slid in to get his right foot to the ball on the stretch as White sprinted off his line. White arrived a fraction too late but Dunn’s effort squirted a foot wide of White’s left upright.

That was the last clear-cut chance the created by the QAS, who appeared to run out of ideas and hope, while the Strikers missed a good chance to complete the scoring two minutes before full time when Moon’s lofted pass put substitute Ben Wilson into the clear. Wilson had time to size up a shot, but blasted it high over Anderson’s crossbar as the goalkeeper came out to narrow Wilson’s shooting angles.

Afterwards, Strikers coach Darren Sime said the game had gone very much according to plan for his team, which had impressed him with the way it defended.

“They (the QAS) stuck to their regular formation so we pretty much knew what we had to take care of and although Dylan (Milne) and Jordan (Corte) didn’t get on the scoresheet I thought they were right up there today, just purely in their defensive jobs”, Sime said. “They just nullified their (QAS) fullbacks from getting forward and helped create room elsewhere. Overall, defensively it was a great performance.

Sime also acknowledged a fine individual performance by stopper Simic, who has spent much of this season playing further forward.

“We were talking in the dressing room about a month ago, maybe longer, saying he’s good on the ball so we might try him in that position, and I think I’m going to get in Stuey’s (McLaren’s) ear about it, because he’s got potential to play a role in there”, Sime said. “There’s not too many left-sided centre-halves and he just brings so much balance. I think that’s the benefit of having played in midfield, where he’s got the ability to knock the ball around and he’s comfortable on the ball. Anything that comes in to him he can deal with quite well”.

Sime finished his post-match comments by saying that he thought his team could rise to the challenge of beating the Redlands City Devils, who have hitherto proved a very difficult stumbling block for his team, in the Grand Final next Friday at Cleveland.

“Every game we’ve played against Redlands this year we’ve – I wouldn’t say had the lion’s share – but if we’d put our chances away it would have been different. They’ve always been tight and competitive, but I’ve always thought we’ve had our chances and they’ve come away with a victory”, Sime said.

“So hopefully, if we turn those chances into goals, we’ll go a long way towards securing a win. It should be a good game. If it’s anything like the last one, it will be a great game”.