The Brisbane Strikers' first tilt at the Premier Cup lasted only 90 minutes today when they were beaten 3-2 and bundled out in the first round by Peninsula Power.

The Strikers dominated the match in terms of possession and territory, but have fourteen minutes of calamitous defending to blame for the fact that they were at one stage 3-0 down. Although they fought back with two quick goals in the second half, an equalising goal eluded them and Steve Faulkner's Division One side claimed the first big scalp of the cup competition.

For reasons that have been well covered on this website over the past week or two, Strikers coach Bobby Hamilton was forced to field a very young and inexperienced side. With Peninsula Power in winning form, it would have come as no surprise to Strikers supporters if their team had struggled to get a grip on a game in which they were pitted against older, stronger and more confident opponents.

That simply did not prove to be the case, despite the Strikers having yet another personnel change forced upon them before the match when midfielder Matt Hornby was forced to pull out for reasons unconnected with football. This obliged Hamilton to bring new signing, Fabio Terra, into the squad and promote Ross Cunneen to the starting eleven in the unfamiliar role of right back.

The Strikers began with a 4-4-2 formation. In front of goalkeeper Antony Hall were Cunneen, Adam Webber, Matt Bell and Brad Stevens, while Eli Gilfedder, Michael Zullo, Stewart Drinkeld and Carl Giannangello formed the midfield, and Michael Butters partnered Ross Duncan up front.

Peninsula Power were without one of their two highly-rated strikers as Ben Dwyer was left on the bench. Skipper Steve Forshaw, playing a sweeper role, marshalled a defence which included Steven Hamilton (the son of the Strikers' coach) at left back, Jeff Pocock as stopper and Luke Gauchi at right back. Steve Cleary, rather than playing as a forward, appeared to be used as an attacking midfielder behind Michael Dransfield and Paul Allen up front, with Tim Chan, Shaun Feuerriegal and Michael Hayter assisting Cleary in midfield.

The Strikers were quickly into stride and virtually owned the first ten to fifteen minutes of the game as they spread the ball around well, playing patient football while building up across the back four and through the midfield. Stevens and Gilfedder combined well down the left, with Gilfedder getting behind his fullback several times to get in a succession of crosses and win several corners.

In the fourteenth minute a Gilfedder cross found Duncan and Butters working together in the Power penalty area. Butters was upended by a mistimed tackle and a penalty kick was awarded, which Drinkeld strode up confidently to take. Confidence is one thing, but placement is another and although he struck the ball firmly enough, Drinkeld found his spot kick being saved by Power's goalkeeper Brendan Hunt, who dropped low but not very far to his right to parry it away. Zullo was onto the rebound in a flash, but his shot was also kept out by Hunt who thereby made a double save and set the tone for what would turn out to be a frustrating afternoon for the Strikers and their supporters.

The double save did little to alter the flow of the game, and five minutes later Webber forced Hunt into a third save with a well-directed downward header from a Gilfedder corner kick.

But in the twenty-fourth minute, totally against the run of play, the Peninsula boys stunned the Strikers with a goal from their first serious attack as the Strikers failed to mark up effectively from a free kick taken from a wide position on the left. The free kick was hoisted high and wide to the back post where Chan arrived, completely unattended by anyone in a yellow shirt, to direct a header low and just inside Hall's post. Although the Strikers' keeper appeared to get his left hand solidly behind the ball he couldn't keep it out and the Division One side were in front to the disbelief of the Strikers' supporters.

About five minutes later, the 'yips' at the heart of the Strikers' defence struck again as a bit of aerial ping-pong around Hall's six-yard box ended with Feuerriegel jumping unmarked to direct what looked like a weak header towards Hall's right post. It looked eminently saveable but Hall, who was looking into the sun, either lost sight of the ball or lost his bearings. His non-plussed reaction as the ball bounced slowly over the line and into his net suggested the latter. Whatever the reason, it was 2-0 and the Power were cock-a-hoop as they scented an upset result.

While the Strikers tried to re-impose themselves on a game which had lurched suddenly out of their control, and their supporters mused over their chances of getting two goals in the second half, the Power turned the screws with a third goal in the thirty-eighth minute. Like the first goal, it came from a free kick, this time about thirty metres out towards the centre of the field. Forshaw strode forward to unleash a screamer which smacked into Hall's crossbar with seemingly enough force to tear the posts out of the ground, but instead of bouncing away to safety it fell to the only player who had followed it in - Steve Cleary. With no Strikers defender within coo-ee, Cleary calmly volleyed the ball past Hall, who this time had no chance.

Minutes before half-time the first goal was almost conceded all over again when Feuerriegel stole in at the back post when attempting to get on the end of a cross whipped in from the left by Forshaw. This time, his diving header narrowly failed to connect with Hall again left friendless and exposed.

The Strikers headed in to the half-time break three-nil down. Hamilton must have been justifiably fuming that in the space of fourteen minutes the Strikers had gone from a position of dominance to one of disaster, with lackadaisical defending primarily to blame.

Half-time might well have produced a few inquests in the Strikers dressing room, but what was evident when the Strikers re-emerged was that the coach had decided on a change of tactics. 4-4-2 was replaced by 3-5-2 as Webber was moved forward into midfield to lend some muscle and composure to an area where the likes of Zullo and Giannangello had begun to struggle towards the end of the first half. It had been noticeable in the first forty-five minutes that, no matter how effectively the Strikers were attacking down the left with Gilfedder and Stevens, they rarely had enough players getting into forward positions to capitalise on their winger's work.

The changes Hamilton made rectified that and within minutes the game was turned on its head. First Gilfedder and Stevens, who were to spend much of the second half interchanging their positions, worked a move down the left which ended with Gilfedder getting in a low cross to the feet of Butters. Butters beat his defender to the near post and side-footed the ball home to make the score 3-1 in the forty-seventh minute.

Peninsula Power had barely caught their breath after this setback before they received another. One minute later the Strikers won a free kick on the right side of the field about thirty metres out. Drinkeld curled the ball teasingly into the box and across the face of Hunt. The Power 'keeper misjudged the flight of the ball and spilled it at full stretch invitingly into the path of Webber, who got his first ever goal for the Strikers with a simple tap-in.

Two simple goals, for a 2-3 scoreline, within three minutes of the restart had Strikers supporters licking their lips in anticipation of an unlikely come-from-behind victory. With forty-two minutes left to get an equaliser and their team again dominating play, this seemed a distinctly plausible scenario.

When Chan, who had been one of the Power's busiest players, was forced off with an injury a few minutes later things looked brighter again for the Strikers. And when a high, wide and handsome free kick from the right fell invitingly inside the Power's penalty box for the unmarked Webber things looked positively dazzling. This time, though, Webber failed to hit the target when only metres out from goal and the Strikers' momentum was stalled.

Paul Allen, for the Power, was the next player to frighten the scoreboard attendants, but his glancing header from a corner kick went a metre wide of Hall's goal. A short time later, after another spell of pressure from the Strikers, a determined counter-attack by the Power saw Hall bring off a good save down low to his right from a shot by Allen, who was only metres out and pounded the ground with his fists in frustration as he contemplated his failure to put his side 4-2 in front.

But most of the second half belonged to the Strikers, who soon responded with a header by Webber that flashed across Hunt's goal and wide of his far post just as Strikers were on their feet believing the ball was going in.

But for all the possession the Strikers enjoyed in the remainder of this half, a cutting edge was lacking. And as the half wore on and the scoreline refused to budge, the Power players got a second wind as their belief that they could hang on grew exponentially.

Hamilton went to his bench to bring on Terra for Butters, who once again had played his heart out. Soon afterwards, Gilfedder came closest of all to an equaliser for the Strikers when he curled a free kick around the Power's defensive wall and centimetres wide of Hunt's upright with Hunt beaten.

As the clock ticked down and things began to look desperate for the Strikers, Hamilton played his final card as he brought on Di Losa. Almost immediately, Di Losa made his presence felt as he attracted defenders to him, opening up spaces for the likes of Zullo and Drinkeld to get shots on goal. Then, in the dying minutes of the game, Di Losa found himself with the time to get a shot in from the edge of the area but his mistimed shot held no terrors for Hunt who gathered it in gleefully.

With the game in injury time the Power resorted to punting the ball upfield and dropping back behind it to frustrate the Strikers, and ultimately it worked. When the full-time whistle went the Power had earned the right to fight again, while the Strikers trooped off doubtlessly contemplating one that had well and truly got away.

No credit should be taken away from Peninsula Power, who played with discipline and concentration for all but the first five minutes of the second half, and did well to convert most of their opportunities.

But this was a dark day for the Strikers. Despite the second-string nature of their line-up, their skills and fitness should have been more than good enough to have won the day. What was not good enough to have won the day was their defending for one quarter of the game, and their lack of a quality target man to provide an outlet for their worthy lead-up play. Bobby Hamilton must be keeping his fingers crossed that Di Losa's groin strain improves and that Barry Browett is medically cleared to play alongside him against the Toowoomba Raiders next week.

Even on this dark day, however, there were a few bright spots if you looked for them. The understanding between Brad Stevens and Eli Gilfedder on the left is growing in leaps and bounds, as is the confidence of Gilfedder - whose confident mastery over his opposing midfielder and fullback bordered at times on arrogance. The way these two are going, when Hamilton is able to get his favoured combinations back on the right side of the park he might well find the 'balance' in his team that he has been looking for since the start of the season. 

Drinkeld's return to the midfield was also encouraging and this hit-out after three weeks off will tune him up nicely for next week when he will need to concentrate perhaps a bit more on getting the best out of the youngsters around him - amongst whom Zullo and Giannangello were noticeably less influential than they had been the previous week against better opposition.

And finally there was the continuing domineering form of Webber, who has looked a class above his opponents in every match he has played this season.