Nabi Cameos As Creek Ease Into RD4
Springfield United 0 Albany Creek 6 (Arop 19', 73' pen; Abdul-Azim Ismail 26'; Maguire 27'; Wust 84'; Nabi 90' pen) HT 0-1 Played at: Woodcrest College
Albany Creek have cruised into the Brisbane Zone preliminary RD4 of the Westfield FFA Cup with an emphatic 6-0 success over Capital League 4 side Springfield Utd on Wednesday evening.
A cameo appearance off the bench for Creek Coach Pouria Nabi resulted in his side's final goal of the evening via the penalty spot after substitute Jordan Wust had been felled by Springfield keeper Rob Cooper and sub Jaydin Viles. Chom Arop opened the scoring on 20 minutes after stealing in on a loose ball before rounding Cooper and clinically dispatching the ball into the far corner from the right edge of the box. It began a purple patch for the visitors who came into the game without captain Royce Brownlie and three other regular first team players. On 26 minutes, Arop turned provider as his ball into the middle of the box was met by Abdul-Azim Ismail who had plenty of time and space to place his shot to the right of Cooper. A minute later, Creek made it 3-0 when Hamish Maguire's crisp drive struck the back of the net after Ismail had in turn turned provider with a firm pass into the youngster that United failed to deal with. The game threatened to blow out in favour of the visitors as they dominated possession from the outset but Creek were unable to add to the scoreline for the remainder of the half. The only chance of the opening period for the hosts fell to Michael Loomes who blazed his shot well over from 15 yards out when well placed to hit the target after United's Kevin Barraclough had picked out the front man with a precise ball. The second half saw an improvement from Springfield who had largely up until this point, failed to retain any meaningful possession and turned the ball over too easily to their higher calibre opponents and they should have pulled one back shortly before the hour when Barraclough, who was Springfield's most influential player on the night and who wouldn't look out of place in the Flight Centre Premier League, again instigated a neat penetrating ball into Loomes who was equally wasteful with his effort as per his first half chance. The tie was effectively put to bed with less than 20 minutes remaining. Lightbody's persistent run into the box resulted in a trip on the lively winger and an easy decision for Referee Michael Bozhoff. Arop stepping up to make it 4 to the good. With under ten minutes left on the clock, the rare and unusual sight of Creek Coach Pouria Nabi standing on the sideline at half way was met by a watchful crowd as he replaced Arop as Creek's target man. And he should have netted within a couple of minutes of his introduction, but he somehow managed too scoop the ball over the bar from Wust's ball into the box. Moments later though, Nabi's involvement proved pivotal to Creek's fifth when his effort from Lightbody's cross was spilled by United keeper Cooper only for Wust to race in and hoover up the scraps. Wust would return the favour near the end of the game when his determined run towards goal was abruptly cut short by Cooper and Viles. Nabi reliving his younger days as he directed his penalty kick passed Cooper to wrap up the scoring and see Creek progress to the next round with relative ease.
Coaches Remarks:
Michael Keating (Springfield Utd) - "Fitness was a factor for us against a well organised side that closed us down quickly. We changed formation second half and we played better and could have perhaps grabbed a couple of goals." Pouria Nabi (Albany Creek) - "First I want to say congratulations to Springfield. They played good football and worked really hard. Probably our fitness was better than theirs especialy as they haven't started their season yet. We wanted to manage and control the game and we were lucky to get three goals in a short period of time in the first half. I'd like to say well done to Springfield who are a club enjoying good growth which is good for the game and to thank them for putting on a good game"
FB Media Player of the Match: Jack Lightbody (Albany Creek), pictured above evading two Srpingfield players.
A tireless effort throughout the evening with the contribution of an assist and unfortunate not to score himself.
Team line-ups
Springfield Utd: Cooper (gk), Baraclough, Bent (Irwin 58'), Birkett, Brandt-Nichols, Callender, Gill (Yarrow 78'), Hilliard, Loomes, McIntyre, Shortman (Viles 67'). Subs: Rodrigues (rgk), Irwin, Mihace, Viles, Yarrow. Albany Creek: Arlayee Ravesh (gk), Arop (Nabi 81'), Byrne, Ismail. AA., Keslake, Lightbody, Maguire, Morris (Clark 61'), Saito, Sanchez (Wust 55'), Vesey. Subs: Gwynn-Jones (rgk), Clark, Ismail. AR., Wust, Nabi. REFEREE: Michael Bozhoff
