Dominant Lions Sneak Past Plucky Students
UQFC 1 (Weterdale 10')
Lions FC 2 (Butters 33'; Shepherd 67’ pen) HT 1-1
Played at Walton Bridge Reserve
Lions FC dominated possession and all the major statistics, allowing them to move 11 points clear at the top of the Flight Centre Premier League table when they escaped with a 2-1 win over a determined UQFC at Walton Bridge Reserve on Sunday night.
UQFC's Carlton Westerdale opened the scoring to give the Students a suprise lead against Lions. University took a surprise early lead when Carlton Westerdale latched onto a defence-splitting pass from Ben Romyn, beating Lions captain and keeper Phil Zabaks with his second touch of the ball. Normal service was resumed on thirty-three minutes when a trademark long throw from Lions was flicked on for Michael Butters to poke home an equaliser, albeit with an element of luck as the ball struck the post and rebounded in off the unfortunate Linus Schibler in UQ's goal. With shots raining in from everywhere, it seemed as if it could be one of those days for the away team until Butters was clipped across the back of the legs inside the area in the second half, and despite bouncing straight back to his feet, was adjudged to have been fouled by referee David Walsh. Nathan Shepherd despatched the spot kick with a spanking shot into the roof of the net and the victory was all but sealed. The Students were never going to come out and play all out attack against the best team in the league but their early goal was a result of their determination to press forward with some neat passing moves and well-timed runs. They nearly grabbed a second but for an excellent offside decision from assistant John Vasiliadis as Lions uncharacteristically lacked cohesion and made poor decisions in defence. They eventually sorted it out but it could easily have cost them a victory. Nonetheless, they possessed plenty of excellent performers including Peter Gaffney who faced a mountain of work against a stacked midfield and despite being on the receiving end of a terrible tackle in the first half, rebounded to be influential as a link man and was also unlucky not to score in the first half with a deflected shot that flew narrowly wide of the upright. Butters was the most dangerous player on the field and Marco Jankovic was also influential, almost scoring a great goal with a ripper of a long range effort which smacked back into play off the left hand upright. UQFC absorbed waves of pressure from set-pieces and it’s credit to their back four that they never looked like conceding from corners. Pele Toussaint was good in the first half hour but best outfield player for the Students was Jay Joo. Most of the interest leading into this game surrounded the last hope for someone to catch Lions and win the Premiership. If it wasn’t over before, which it was, this catch-up game was the result which added the icing to the cake.
UQ's Pele Toussaint puts pressure on Lions FC's Phil Zabaks. Six games remain for UQFC to leave the Flight Centre Premier League with some pride. They were dominated today but not too many teams get anything from Lions. They are highly likely to go down but have every chance of coming straight back up without the yoke of the Club Championship around their necks.
FB Media Player Of The Match: GK Linus SCHIBLER - UQFC.
The narrow scoreline didn’t truly reflect the statistical landslide against the home side and it UQ's man between the sticks that was the reason why. A string of spectacular second half saves, including a stunning save to deny Jankovic late on; highlighted one of the best goalkeeping performances we have witnessed this year. Team line-ups UQFC: Schibler (gk), Farr, Smith, Sakurai, Romyn, Joo, Gorrie, Maguire, Henny, Toussaint, Westerdale. Subs: David, Fisher-Smith, Mann, Marsden (rgk), White.
Lions FC: Zabaks (gk), Takahashi, Fetahagic, Reardon, Shepherd, Cokell, Gaffney, Diaz, Butters, Jomanday. Subs: Cosgrove, Kenyon, Moon, Morgan, Murphy (rgk).
FB Media Match Stats.
Possession: 1st Half 36% - 64% / 2nd Half 41% - 59%
Overall Possession: 39% - 61%
Shots on target: 1 - 11
Shots off target: 1 - 15
Penalties 0 - 1
Free kicks: 12 - 12
Offside: 1 - 1
Corners: 3 - 16
Yellow Cards: 2 - 2
Red Cards: 0 - 0 Referee: David Walsh
