A brace from winger Scot Coulson and debut goals from Jheison Macuace and Alex Schiavo earned Brisbane Strikers their first three points of the NPL season as they downed Sunshine Coast Fire 4-2 at Perry Park on Saturday night.

All of the goals came in the second half, with Ryan Delahunty also getting a brace for the Fire, but it was the Strikers who took the points to give new coach Chay Hews his first win of the year. 

The first half was a typically hard-fought and even contest between two clubs who have fought out many torrid encounters over six years of intense rivalry. 

Strikers goalkeeper David Chambers was the busier of the two custodians, having to deny Delahunty twice in one-on-one situations as the speedy forward got in behind the Strikers’ defence.

Although Strikers had gained control of the midfield before the first half ended they had not tested Sunshine Coast goalkeeper Antony Hall. 

Instead it was the Fire who went ahead three minutes after the half time break when Delahunty raced on to a long clearance to outstrip the Strikers’ defence and sidefooted past Chambers from close range.

But the Fire could not hold out a determined Strikers team who drew level eight minutes later when Josh Taylor’s defence-splitting pass allowed winger Jheison Macuace to nip in and beat Hall from close range for his first goal for his new club.

The Strikers hit the front in the sixty-second minute when Schiavo neatly finished off a crisp passing movement with a first-time shot that flew in off the inside of Hall’s goalpost.

Coulson then put the home team further in front eight minutes later with a deflected shot that left Hall wrong-footed, before producing a thumping volley on the turn to emphatically finish off some determined work from substitute Chris Roulston with nine minutes remaining.

Strikers coasted to the finishing line from there but were caught napping in the second minute of stoppage time when Delahunty strode on to a through-ball to again side-foot neatly past Chambers, this time from twelve yards.

Hews said after the match it had been particularly satisfying for him to gain the first win of his coaching career against the club’s old enemies.

“It feels good and it’s a little bit extra-special when it’s against the Sunny Coast – there’s a bit of history between the two teams”, Hews said. 

“But at the end of the day I’m just happy to get a win.  The the boys worked hard this week and I said to them after the game they deserved it.”

“When we went 1-0 down it felt like we lifted a bit, so that was good to see”.