City Strike Early To Sink Sharks
Words: Garry McKenzie
Palm Beach SC suffered from a Westfield FFA Cup hangover in falling to a 2-1 defeat against Brisbane City at Mallawa Complex on Sunday.
Kristian Rees’ late strike for the hosts was not enough to overcome first half goals from Pazung Thang and Antonio Murray.
Sharks entered the match knowing anything bar a win would see them lose ground to Redlands United and Northern Fury in the race for finals football.
Brisbane City were chasing consecutive wins for only the second time this season and made a dream start, opening the scoring in the first minute when Thang cut inside from the left and curled the ball past a diving Shane Viitakangas.
Sharks were sluggish in the first 10 minutes before recovering to threaten down the flanks as Rees Duncan produced a byline cross for Roman Hofmann to touch against the post.
Minutes later, City ‘keeper Matthew Stein fumbled a Nik Mirkovic cross straight into the path of Justyn McKay but produced a reflex save to turn the point-blank header wide.
Despite dominating possession, Sharks fell further behind when Murray received the ball in a crowded penalty area, turned and squeezed a shot inside the left-hand post to make it 2-0.
The hosts controlled play for the rest of the half with Stein forced to turn away Hofmann’s goal-bound shot before McKay’s fierce downward header bounced over an empty net before the break.
City sought to protect their hard-fought advantage throughout the second half, with their best attacking chance seeing Murray shooting wide from distance.
The visitor's defence snuffed out a barrage of attacking raids at the other end until the hosts finally pulled one back in the final ten minutes.
A Sharks corner was beaten away before the ball was scooped back over two static City defenders, allowing veteran defender Rees to beat Stein in a one-on-one.
Sharks searched for an equaliser in the final few minutes but City held firm to secure their sixth win of the season.
After the match Palm Beach coach Grae Piddick summed up the match as indicative of his side’s season.
“Back to our usual league form really. Create a number of chances, don’t take them and it comes back to bite us,” Piddick said.
Palm Beach SC 1 (Kristian REES 84’)
Brisbane City FC 2 (Pazung THANG 1’ Antonio MURRAY 20’)
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