Strikers Through To Silver Boot Final

Wednesday 10th Feb, 2010

The line of steady improvement on the pre-season form graph of Stuart McLaren’s new Brisbane Strikers team took a slightly steeper trajectory tonight as they posted a comfortable 2-0 victory over their arch rivals Olympic FC in the first semi-final of the Silver Boot tournament at Luxury Paints Stadium.

Once again it was the boot of scoring hotshot Gareth Musson that got them home, but this time both strikes came from the penalty spot as Musson boosted his tournament tally to a scarcely believable nine goals from four games. Both penalties came late in a match that the Strikers, while perhaps not playing their opponents conclusively out of the contest, never looked likely to lose.

The first half was one of few chances. Olympic started the brighter, starving the Strikers of possession from the kick-off for the opening couple of minutes, but the Strikers had the first attempt at goal with Sean Burke firing wide in the seventh minute. Olympic responded with a strong header by defender Mark Fisk from a corner kick which whistled a foot or two wide of Strikers goalkeeper Seb Usai’s far post, but from there the half developed into an arm wrestle in which the Strikers gradually got the upper hand with Reagan Alder, Matija Simic, Chay Hews and Matt Christensen taking control of the central midfield area.

Against the run of play Usai was forced into a good save down low to his left as Olympic’s right winger, Matt Heath, cut inside and drove a shot low towards his left near post, and Olympic goalkeeper Shannon Lancini had an anxious moment when Alder drove a shot across the face of his goal. But most of the fireworks were coming from the Olympic dugout as their coach, Bobby Hamilton, protested vehemently about the match officials allowing some of the Strikers’ more vigorous tackling to go unpunished.

In the other dugout, by comparison, McLaren was looking almost relaxed enough to require the use of smelling salts to get him going as he watched a back line with which he had tinkered (by playing Ryan Mottin in a stopper’s role vacated by Simic) seem relatively untroubled by the best efforts that Olympic’s Alex Panic, Brad Lacey and Heath could throw at them.

A dipping free kick by Strikers fullback Brad McDonald was the next effort to threaten goal, with Lancini doing well to dive to his left to prevent the ball from entering the corner of his net as the first half drew to a close with the teams still at 0-0.

Early in the second half Hamilton attempted to change the attacking tempo of his team by bringing on speedster Andrew Oar, who had done so much to trouble the Strikers’ defence in a couple of games in last year’s QSL, in place of Heath. But while Oar would again prove to be his team’s most potent attacking threat the Strikers generally continued to look like the team in control of the match and most likely to score.

Musson and Burke, concentrating their efforts mostly down the left side of the Strikers’ attack, began to cause Olympic’s defence problems with their pace and dribbling abilities, and Olympic lived dangerously when Hews fed a through ball into Musson’s pass to put him into the clear. As Musson bore down on Lancini’s goal the ‘keeper did well to remain on his feet until precisely the right moment when Musson attempted to slip the ball past him. Lancini’s smothering save, sixty-five minutes into the game, kept his side on level terms.

From the very next passage of play Olympic almost grabbed the lead as Oar was played through to hit a low drive that eluded Usai before thudding into the base of his right post. The rebound came out to Panic, who was unable to control his volley well enough to steer it into the beckoning net as covering defence converged on Usai’s six-yard box.

A few minutes later, as Olympic pressured the Strikers as they tried to play the ball out from a tight spot near a corner flag, an ill-judged back pass allowed Oar, with his back to goal, an opportunity to spin around and hit a low shot. The ball flew across the face of Usai’s goal before going out for a goal kick as Olympic enjoyed their best spell of the game.

As the game went into its last quarter a 0-0 scoreline looked a distinct possibility. But with substitutions being made by both coaches the game opened up – for the Strikers. Persistent pressure exerted by the Strikers when Olympic’s backs were in possession resulted in Christensen stealing possession and releasing Musson with a pass that took him into Olympic’s penalty area. As Musson attempted to dribble around the last defender to get a strike on goal he was fouled and a penalty was awarded. Musson took the spot kick himself and, although Lancini guessed and dived the right way, Musson’s technique was too good and the ball finished low in the left corner of Lancini’s goal to give the Strikers the lead in the seventy-first minute.

Olympic were not really looking like a team who could take their opponents by the scruff of the neck and force a way back into the contest. Perhaps sensing this, Hamilton kept his instructions simple – get the ball to Oar! The winger did his best to repay Hamilton’s faith, working an opening to drive in a low shot that was gathered in quite comfortably by Usai at his right post a few minutes later, but the Strikers should have put the game beyond doubt with eleven minutes remaining when Christensen and Burke combined down the Strikers’ right flank to get Burke into a position to pick out substitute Matt Thurtell with a simple but perfectly directed low cross. Thurtell was only metres out from goal but, much to his embarrassment, scooped his shot metres over Lancini’s crossbar when any sort of contact on target would have been almost impossible to stop.

Olympic almost made Thurtell rue his miss even more when Panic met a cross from the right with a thunderous volley with his right foot that was going inside the top corner of Usai’s goal, only for the goalkeeper to produce the best save of the match with a fantastic leap to deny Panic by tipping the ball over the crossbar with his left glove.

With Olympic chafing at the bit to gain possession of the ball in the final five minutes the Strikers underlined a performance of growing poise and superiority by playing keep-ball effectively enough in Olympic’s half to force two more opportunities of their own. The first produced a double save from Musson, first by Lancini and then by a defender’s goal line clearance. But the second rubbed salt into Olympic’s wounds when it led to substitute Jordan Mason being felled inside Olympic’s penalty area – no doubt much to Hamilton’s frustration – while Mason running an angle away from the goal.

Musson again tucked the spot kick away with aplomb, with Lancini this time guessing the wrong way, to make the final score 2-0 with almost the last kick of the game to send the Strikers through to the final of the tournament on Sunday.

Strikers coach Stuart McLaren was predictably pleased that his young side had produced such a convincing performance against a club that has continued to draw players away from Perry Park. On the evidence tonight, that is yet to have any effect on either Perry Park or Goodwin Park. If the new-look Strikers squad is a work in progress, then substantial progress is being made, while Olympic still have work to do.

“Results sometimes cloud things”, McLaren said. “But tonight I think it was justice. At times in the game we had them very much on the back foot in terms of being able to pressure them and not allow them to play out of their own half comfortably. And there were times in the game when I thought we strung together some very good combination football. Again, Musson has had a very good chance saved by the ‘keeper and ‘Turtle’ (Thurtell) has put one over the bar, so I think we were good value for the 2-0 and that was very reflective of the performance”.

However, McLaren said he will now be looking for improvement from his team when going forward.

“While there is always fine-tuning everywhere, we haven’t worked – and this is the honest truth , because we’ve still got some time – we haven’t worked an awful lot on the front third”, he said. “What we’re seeing at the moment is the players taking some general instructions and using their own football brain and abilities and applying them very well. So hopefully we can fine-tune some of those things and make better use sometimes of the possession that we’ve got building up into that area of the park”.