Massive Boil Over As Knights Beat Lions
Ipswich Knights 2 (Cabassi 56’, Pillay 90+3')
Lions FC 1 (Diaz 6’)
HT 0-1 Played at Eric Evans Oval
Ipswich Knights turned around their poor run of form and took three points from the reigning Premiers when they won 2-1 in spectacular style with a late, late winner at Eric Evans Oval on Sunday evening. Lions opened the scoring in the sixth minute when Michael Butters floated a pin-point pass to Sekou Jomanday who hit the ball first time and the unlucky former Lions FC keeper Declan Murphy, could only parry the ball to the feet of Tynan Diaz who fired home from close range. By the 56th minute Ipswich were yet to register a shot on or off target but their first attempt, a side-footed strike from Jack Cabassi, brought them even on the scoreboard. In time added on the Knights broke wide on the right hand side and Jason Pillay made himself available at the far post before slotting home a pin-point cross and triggering wild celebrations on the field and in the grandstands. Lions dominated the first half with 70% possession and Jomanday slicing through the backline at will but once again their inability to turn statistics into results on the scoreboard cost them dearly as they emerge from the weekend with their fourth league and cup game on the trot without a victory. Danny Wilson, on debut as coach for Ipswich after the resignation of Graham Ross, started with a three man backline which caused them all sorts of problems for a long period as they were forced deep into their own half with the long ball their only means of escape. Whether by luck or design, after the break they had more possession in the opposition half and crucially were able to create opportunities with short balls in behind the defence including one which allowed Devon Munn to drive toward goal but he was only able to slice his shot wide of the post. At the other end, Jomanday had Lions best chance of the second half but was denied by an excellent low save from Murphy. How the home team escaped with an excellent three points is a matter for conjecture considering the circumstances but on the evidence presented the only explanation is that Lions panicked with thoughts of their recent losses still ringing in their ears. Ipswich sensed the indecisiveness creeping into their opponents and grabbed the game by the throat. Once again, this outcome changes the perspective for both teams in another vital Flight Centre Premier League contest. Lions have to get back on the winning side of the ledger or they could see their title hopes slipping away whilst the Knights can get their heads back into a semi-final chase having shrugged off two horrible whackings in their previous two outings. It won’t be long before the temperature drops out at Bundamba but the faithful could well be looking back to a warm and drizzly evening in March when they turned their season around.
Coaches Reactions:
Danny Wilson (Ipswich Knights) “Very happy. Bit of a disrupted week obviously but the boys showed character and stuck to the game plan. It’s pleasing because we showed we can mix it with the big boys. Fortunate to get that result at the end but we’ll take each game at a time and hopefully we can keep moving in a forward direction.” Warren Moon (Lions FC) “I felt we controlled the game and should have been out of sight but got punished for our lack of ruthlessness in front of goal. That's football and we need to learn and improve”
FBMedia Player Of The Match: Jason Pillay (Ipswich Knights)
Even suggesting a Knights player could be player of the match when they went into the halftime break was unthinkable but Pillay was integral to his side’s victory with sharp running down the left hand side which dragged the Lions backline out of position and enabled space to open up.
Match Stats:
Overall Possession: 44% - 56%
Shots on target: 2 - 6
Shots off target: 3 - 9
Corners: 1 - 8
Free kicks: 15 - 19
Penalties: 0 - 0
Offsides: 5 - 1
Yellow cards: 3 - 2
Red cards: 0 - 0
Team line-ups
Ipswich Knights: Murphy (gk), Kakimoto, Munn, Robinson, Pillay, Cabassi, Liddy, Kenyon, Nishimaki, Butler, Davis. Subs: Monaghan, Wilson, Kenyi, Muir
Lions FC: Long (gk), Butters, Jarrard, Reardon, Gaffney, Smith, Hore, Cokell, Jomanday, Diaz, Young. Subs: Cosgrove, Rucker, Davie, Cuminao (rgk), Shepherd. Referee: Michael Bozhoff.
