Palm Beach Sharks have continued their impressive pre-season form in the NPL Queensland season proper, dismantling Sunshine Coast Fire 5-0 at Stockland Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Dynamic Sharks forward Chris Lucas netted a stunning first half hat-trick for the visitors in the ‘Clash of the Coasts’, before captain Justyn McKay and substitute Mitch Robinson capped off the display with a goal apiece in the final ten minutes.

The Sharks dominated the contest from the very early stages and almost took the lead inside the first minute when Lucas broke free of the Fire backline only to be denied by a smart save from Sam Nickolls in the Fire goalmouth.

It wasn’t long before Lucas opened his account though, capitalising on a deftly floated ball over the top of Nickolls to steer the ball into an empty net on five minutes.

Ten minutes later Lucas had his second after he was picked out with a direct ball from Jonathon Camilleri, beating Nickolls to his right with a well-placed strike from the top of the penalty area.

The former Gold Coast United player sealed his hat-trick on 38 minutes courtesy of quick Sharks counter-attack that saw Lucas cap off his performance with a classy lofted finish over the advancing Nickolls.

Fire fashioned a sprinkling of chances of their own in the opening stanza, however were unable to pull a goal back before the break.

Content with their three goal margin, Sharks settled for maintaining their clean sheet in the second stanza, while Fire, to their credit, continued to push forward in search of a goal.

As the match entered the final stages, and with the result all but sealed, Sharks adding two late strikes.

McKay slotted home from a neatly worked set piece, striking his shot from the edge of the box following a short corner kick before Robinson rubbed further salt into Fire’s wounds when he slotted home from an acute angle minutes before the full time whistle.