The Weekly Wash-Up
The weekend saw a number of catch-up games played although Friday’s rain and subsequent blanket fog that enveloped Brisbane during the evening and night, also caused some of those catch-up games to be postponed/abandoned.
We will however start off with last week where some ‘cupsets’ were the order of the day. Here’s the five things that captured our attention over the last week…
#1:: Caboolture Dump Knights Out Of Cup Caboolture returned to winning ways at Grant Road when they dumped out Flight Centre Premier League side Ipswich Knights from the Pig ’N’ Whistle Canale Cup. Knights fielded their reserve side for the RD4 tie last Tuesday evening and it proved their undoing as they were sent packing in a convincing 3-1 defeat to the Capital League 3 side that boasts a number of former Flight Centre Premier League players, including recent signing Adam Froggatt who has made the surprise move from Peninsula Power to the Grant Road outfit. Caboolture will be the lowest ranked side going into the RD5 draw later this week but another home tie will undoubtedly fill them with confidence. Match highlights can be viewed here.
#2:: Mitchelton Finally Defeated Last week’s cup action also threw up another ‘cupset’ when Mt Franklin Women’s Premier League leaders Mitchelton, undefeated in 2017 heading into their RD3 Elaine Watson Cup tie against fellow league side Peninsula Power and aiming to retain the trophy they won in 2016, were surprisingly knocked out by the AJ Kelly side. Brit Whitfield scoring the winner in the 80th minute to stun the Mustangs and deny them repeating their 2016 league and cup double success. Mitchelton will undoubtedly be hurting from that loss and a focus on the league title will now be foremost in coach Zoe Bickerstaffe’s mind, but can they go through the season with a 100% league record??? After this loss, possibly not. #3:: Capital League 3 Title Race Re-Ignited After the previous weekend’s shock result that saw Caboolture defeated at home by Tarragindi Tigers, St George Willawong had the perfect opportunity to further extend their lead at the top of the Capital League 3 table when they travelled to Clairvaux for a RD6 catch-up game on Saturday. However, Clairvaux didn’t follow the script as they surprised everyone with a 3-0 win over the Saints that opens up the title race for both Caboolture and AC Carina to close in on the league leaders. In fact it was the first time this season St George had been kept scoreless. A string of four straight defeats for the hosts perhaps led St George into a false sense of security, especially given the fact they’d thumped Clairvaux 6-0 the week beforel; with complacency the possible contributor to the Saints third loss of the season. AC Carina also tasted defeat in their RD12 catch-up game away to Westside at the weekend, which had they won, would have seen them move to second on the table. An opportunity lost for the Dolphins on a 2-1 defeat, although they retain a four point gap to fourth placed Westside. #4:: Power Up To Second There was almost a full compliment of Flight Centre Premier League games at the weekend with eight sides in action, but Peninsula Power stood out for us as they moved to second on the Flight Centre Premier League table after a narrow 1-0 success over Albany Creek. After a less than impressive opening half to the season, Power are surging at just the right time as they sit just three points off of league leaders Rochedale Rovers. It’s certainly a purple patch for the AJ Kelly Park side as they also look forward to that mouth watering Westfield FFA Cup Round of 32 tie against Hyundai A-League’s Melbourne City that is now less than a month away. There's certainly a buzz around the Redcliffe peninsula at the moment.
Ironically, Power face Creek again this coming weekend in their RD18 league clash at Wolter Park. A repeat of Saturday’s success will surely cement their place in the top four and keep the pressure up on Rovers. You can watch the Power v Albany Creek highlights below.
#5:: Wolves FC On The Rise Chances are Wolves FC would like to play Acacia Ridge every week after the twist of catch-up game scheduling meant the two sides faced each other for the second week in a row. It was a fruitful outing for Mark Dykman’s side as they notched up another four goals against Ridge, making it eight goals in two games, following their 4-1 away win which has propelled them to within two points of fourth placed Ridge on the table and a chance of finals football when their season looked over just a couple of months ago. A list of injuries is badly affecting Acacia Ridge’s defensive line and a visit from fellow finals hopefuls Brisbane Knights next weekend means another tough assignment for Zoran Simunovic’s side. Wolves rise up the table though faces it’s toughest test with them facing the top three sides in the coming weeks plus a midweek catch-up game next week at home to Bayside who have already accounted for Wolves recently.
