Olympic FC and Moreton Bay United left it late to secure victories, while Western Pride dominate a struggling Sunshine Coast side in Kawana.
Lions FC and Brisbane Strikers keep clean sheets as a double from Cairns’ Josh Taylor against Brisbane City sees the striker stake his claim as the in-form player in the competition.
Sunshine Coast FC 1 (Cooke 4′)
Western Pride 8 (Duckworth 5′ 8′ 67′ 75′, Pengelley 13′, Bird 55′, Hawash 44′, Parsons 76’)
Kawana Sports Precinct
Duckworth in form against Fire
Four goals from Joe Duckworth was the highlight as reigning Pride flexed their muscles at Kawana Sports Precinct on Saturday afternoon.
It was a come-from-behind victory for the reigning NPL Queensland champions, who conceded an early goal to Sunshine Coast’s Joshua Cooke.
SWQ Thunder 2 (Cooper 29’, Edwards 33’)
Olympic FC 3 (Psaros 83’ 90+4’, Smith 84’)
Clive Berghofer Stadium
Olympic leave it late
Olympic came close to losing their joint position on the top of the NPL Queensland ladder but showed fighting spirit to claw back an important victory in Toowoomba.
After two goals in the opening half, SWQ Thunder were on the brink of a famous victory but failed to hold their nerve against their more-fancied opponents.
Costa Psaros scored the late winner in stoppage time as Thunder ended the match with nine men, following the late dismissals of Federico Brusaca and captain Jacob Bigby.
Brisbane City 1 (Meyer 90’)
Cairns FC 3 (Taylor 54’ 90+3’, Allebi 86’)
Corporate Travel Management Stadium
Taylor guides Cairns to away win
Chances were few and far between in the first 45 minutes but both City and Cairns showed strong attacking impetus after the interval in Newmarket.
Josh Taylor’s 17th goal in as many matches opened the scoring for the away side, before Cairns doubled their tally through a swift counter-attack finished by Gianni Allebi.
James Meyer’s 90th minute strike – just his second goal of the season –proved merely consolation as the in-form Taylor made it 3-1 in stoppage time.
Lions FC 5 (Carlos 22’, Maher 24’, Jarrard 57’, Macuace 70’, Madle 75’)
Magpies Crusaders United 0
Lions Stadium
Lions crush Magpies
Lions FC kept the pressure on joint league leaders Western Pride and Olympic FC with an emphatic victory at Lions Stadium on Saturday evening.
Warren Moon’s team had five different goal scorers in the 5-0 victory, while goalkeeper Luke Borean also notched his side’s 10th clean sheet of the campaign.
Now with 11 goals in their past two outings, Lions will be eagerly anticipating their trip to face Pride this Saturday night in Round 19 of NPL Queensland.
Gold Coast United 0
Brisbane Strikers 4 (Lee 3’, Meredith 15’, Clulow 56’ 58’)
Robina Station Reserve
Strikers strike early
With two goals in the opening 15 minutes, Brisbane Strikers’ quick-first start was enough to see them take all three points at Robina Station Reserve.
Michael Lee opened the scoring in just the third minute and Rhys Meredith netted the away side’s second 12 minutes later before a Trent Clulow double at the hour mark sealed the win.
United finished the match with nine men, following the send-offs of Jayden Prasad and substitute Curtis Stollery, and now sit ninth on the NPL Queensland ladder.
North QLD United FC 2 (Waples 40’, Benjamin 90’)
Moreton Bay United FC 3 (Capelo 52’ (pen), Arop 60’, Campbell 90+2’)
Brolga Park
Jets win it at the death
Nine places on the ladder separated these two sides going into the match but North Queensland made it difficult for their southern visitors on Saturday night.
North Queensland thought they had salvaged a point when Masimango Benjamin made it 2-2 in the 90th minute, but Riley Campbell’s stoppage time goal ensured the Jets maintain their stranglehold on fourth place on the ladder.
Brisbane Roar Youth 3 (Muratovic 9’ 63’, Bafford 88’)
Redlands United 0
Logan Metro Sports Complex
Muratovic at the double
A goal in each half from Mirza Muratovic has helped the Young Roar to a comprehensive victory over Redlands United in Logan on Sunday evening.
A late goal from Bryce Bafford rounded out the scoreline for the home side as Redlands look to recover after conceding nine in their past two matches.
Image: Patrick Kearney
