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The loyal 1600 or so fans who ventured to Perry Park last night to cheer on the Brisbane Strikers could have been excused for
scratching their heads in confusion, as a vastly improved home side prevailed 2-0 over Sydney United.
In what virtually amounted to a must-win game for both teams, given their relative ladder positions in the race for the top six, the fans were treated to an early glimpse of finals football as they watched a fast-paced, hard-fought contest that was deservedly won by a home side almost unrecognisable from the one which tumbled limply to Marconi only three days before.
A casual analysis of the game might support the conclusion that the return of Karl Dodd and Matthew McKay to the Brisbane starting eleven produced a quantum leap in composure, energy and penetration for the team as a whole. However, that would undersell the efforts of several others in the team who noticeably improved on their efforts over Marconi, and the performance of Adam Webber who was given an unfamiliar role wide on the right side of midfield, and performed with distinction.
But it was a priceless piece of ‘football justice’, which so often eludes deserving candidates in our game, that will set this game apart from others when the record books are dusted off some time in the future. That piece of justice was enjoyed by Brisbane Strikers defender, Josh McCloughan.
Ten days earlier McCloughan had put his team ahead with his first ever NSL goal, only to have that goal cruelly rubbed out when the game was abandoned due to bad weather. In last night’s replay McCloughan restored his honour by again scoring the opening goal, when he tucked away a rebound from a viciously struck Steve Fitzsimmons free kick. As he wheeled away towards the grandstand to celebrate with his index finger
signaling the number "1", there was no disguising the big defender’s glee, nor that of the crowd who recognised his moment of retribution.
McCloughan’s goal, scored in the twentieth minute, capped a bright opening to the match in which both sides had
signaled attacking intentions, and ushered in a long period in which the home side was forced to dig deep to repel a Sydney United side which pressed very hard, but could not find a cutting edge to convert its good lead up work into goals. With Brendan Santalab and gnome-sized midfielder Anthony Doumanis twisting, turning and running at the Brisbane defence, and with the home side conceding a plethora of corner kicks, Strikers supporters were never able to feel comfortable with a 1-0 lead. But for all the visitors’ huffing and puffing, they were unable to seriously test Brisbane’s goalkeeper, Scott Higgins. The closest they came to a goal was when substitute Mark Beldham nodded a ball onto the crossbar after a goalmouth scramble.
Great credit for Higgins’ lack of serious action must, however, be given to the home side’s defending. Not only were Dodd, McCloughan and McLaren outstanding at the back, but the Brisbane midfielders, in particular Webber, Grierson and Fitzsimmons, were exemplary in their determination to get back and help out with the unglamorous work of shutting down their desperate opponents. If finals football is often about iron-clad concentration and willingness to fight for each other, as it often is, then the Brisbane Strikers showed last night they will not be out of place should they make the top six.
While the Strikers found themselves pinned inside their own territory for long periods in the second half while defending their narrow lead, they nonetheless looked the more likely side to score as they broke away in numbers on several occasions. McCloughan was unlucky not to get a second goal when he got on the end of a fluent move only to have his shot brilliantly saved by Liam Reddy in the United goal. Later, McKay was put into the clear after a breakout involving some five or six rapid passes, only to lose his composure and blast the ball high over the bar when hitting the target would have been easier.
Finally, however, the match was sealed when a very similar breakaway found substitute David Pilic where McKay had been. Pilic’s low drive from the right side of the box beat Reddy and finished in the far corner of the goal to extinguish the visitors’ fight, much to the unrestrained joy and relief of the small but vocal crowd.
The Strikers will now travel to Sydney to attempt the season double over highly-fancied Parramatta Power. Doubtless, they will do so in a much more confident frame of mind than they would have done if the effort against Marconi had been their last match before going to Sydney.
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Brisbane Strikers 2 (1)
v
Sydney United 0 (0)
Scorers: Josh McCloughan (20')
David Pilic (84')
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