Strikers Edge Olympic To Go Top
Words: Staff Writers
Image: Brisbane Strikers
Brisbane Strikers moved at least momentarily top of the league with a 1-0 win over Olympic FC at Perry Park on Tuesday night.
The match, played ahead of schedule due to Strikers’ Westfield FFA Cup engagement away to Hume City, remained undecided until Jheison Macuace’s second-half strike moved the hosts a point clear Moreton Bay United.
Defeat leaves Olympic with work to do in third as fourth-placed Redlands United eye the six-point margin with a game in hand.
The contest might have turned out differently had Tim Smits kept a clear opportunity under the crossbar inside two minutes.
Strikers wasted little time in launching attempts of their own as Greig Henslee first headed over from a corner before Matt Acton was needed to keep out Josh McVey.
Olympic lost Japanese utility Kazuya Ito to a leg injury early in proceedings and despite Smits testing Fraser Chalmers from a corner, the home side almost rubbed salt into the wound when Macuace shot into the sidenetting before the break.
Darren Gray joined Ito in being forced off after the restart and Strikers made the opportunity count shortly after the hour as substitutes Apai Ukuno and Scot Coulson teed up Macuace to poke past Acton.
Olympic pushed numbers forward in search of an equaliser in the final 20 minutes but found it difficult to tough to break down a staunch home defence.
Macuace might have sealed victory when he exploited space at the back only to finish wide of the far post, though his miss mattered little as Kevin A’Herne-Evans’ side held on to apply more pressure to Jets.
Speaking after the match, Strikers assistant coach Ken Armstrong attributed the hard-fought result to the work of defenders Greig Henslee and Cameron Draper and goalkeeper Fraser Chalmers.
“It was a struggle but that’s the beauty of keeping a clean sheet. We've got, I believe, the best centre-half pairing in the league,” Armstrong said.
Olympic coach Jim Bellas said he was proud of his team after losing two players and felt a result would have been deserved.
“I think it comes down to putting your chances away. I thought we had a lot more chances than Strikers did,” Bellas said.
Brisbane Strikers FC 1 (Jheison MACUACE 67’)
Olympic FC 0
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