The Young Roar have played out an intense 1-1 draw with Gold Coast City FC in their PlayStation 4
National Premier Leagues Queensland Round 10 fixture at Cleveland Showgrounds.
The respective defences remained solid throughout the match and both keepers were rarely threatened despite the end-to-end nature of the game.
City opened the scoring after 34 minutes when Rhys Saunders capitalised on a mistake in defence from the Young Roar and ran away to finish calmly into the bottom corner.
The Young Roar restored parity three minutes later as Shannon Brady’s header across goal created a simple tap in for Joseph Champness .
Livewire Champness was replaced during the second half by electric wing Jayden Prasad whose fresh legs and pace proved difficult for the City defence in the final half-hour.
Brisbane had two second-half penalty appeals in quick succession waved away by referee Matt Skinner. Champness received a yellow card following his protest following the second appeal.
Nathan Konstandopoulos was dominant in midfield for the Young Roar. The midfielder almost supplied an incredible assist to Daniel Leck whose header late in the match unfortunately flew high.
Goals & Highlights
34’: GOAL CITY: The ball is given away cheaply to Rhys Saunders who breaks through 1-on-1 with Jannese and finishes low and hard to the keeper’s right. 0-1
37’: GOAL ROAR : Shannon Brady climbs high and heads from the back post to the goal-mouth and Champness buries a volley from point-blank range. 1-1
51’: CHANCE ROAR: Nathan Konstandopoulos picks up the ball 25m from goal and drives a shot a well-hit which is saved comfortably by Shane Viitakangas.
53’: YELLOW CARD ROAR: Joseph Champness picks up a yellow card for dissent following an appeal for a penalty
72’: CHANCE ROAR: Viitakangas comes out for a corner but doesn’t collect the high ball. The ball falls to Cameron Crestani whose header is stopped on the line by Jordon Lampard.
77’: CHANCE ROAR: Jayden Prasad’s curling effort from 20m doesn’t quite find the target and goes wide for a goal-kick
83’: CHANCE CITY : A headed effort from Riley Dillon forces an incredible save from Jannese who scrambles across the net to keep the shot out.
87’: CHANCE ROAR: Exquisite play from Konstandopoulos on the right wing sees him break into the area. His hard cross finds Daniel Leck in front of goal, but his header flies high.
Talking Point
The attacking intent of the Young Roar is both entertaining and damaging. Intricate play between Shannon Brady and Nicholas D’Agostino provide problems for the City defence, as did the presence of Nathan Konstandopoulos and both Joseph Champness and Jayden Prasad out wide.
Quote Unquote
Brisbane Roar Youth Coach JOSH MCCLOUGHAN: “I thought we did enough to win that football game. I’ve been pretty pleased about how we’ve been going about our business and our structures.
“Ät half time, we spoke a little a bit about our press and the boys took that information on really well
“In the second half, we did well. They stood in what I believed was a very physical game.
“Gold Coast have a lot of good players and are well organised too.
“We just need to be a little more organised in that final third because we managed to get in to some really good areas and it’s just about that final ball.”
Gold Coast City Coach GRAE PIDDICK: “We had to defend a lot in the second half and we gave the ball away a fair bit, probably because we were quite tired.
“There were good things, and some things that we need to work on. It was pleasing that we stuck to the task under a lot of pressure.”
What’s next?
The Young Roar return to Cleveland Showgrounds to face second-placed Redlands United FC on Saturday, 21 May (6pm KO) before taking on cross-town rivals Brisbane Strikers FC at Perry Park on Saturday, 28 May (6pm KO).
Match Stats
PlayStation 4 National Premier Leagues Queensland Round 10, Brisbane Roar Youth v Gold Coast City FC, Cleveland Showgrounds, Saturday, 14 May
Brisbane Roar FC Youth 1 (Champness 37’)
Gold Coast City FC 1 (Saunders 34’)
Brisbane Roar FC Youth : 1.Andre JANNESE (gk), 2.Jaiden WALKER, 3.Cameron CRESTANI, 4.Mark RODIC, 8.Nathan KONSTANDOPOULOS, 9.Nicholas D’AGOSTINO, 12.Joseph CHAMPNESS (19.Daniel LECK 67’), 13.Connor O’TOOLE (5.Matthew SCHMIDT 60’), 14.Daniel DRIVER, 15.Jesse DALEY (c), 17.Shannon BRADY (11.Jayden PRASAD 61’)
Unused substitutes: 20.Tomislav Bilic (gk), 23.Nicholas PANETTA
Yellow cards: Joseph CHAMPNESS 53’
Red cards: Nil
Gold Coast City FC : 1.Shane VIITAKANGAS, 3.Tim JACKSON, 4.Martin VAZQUEZ, 7.Justin MCKAY (6.Jason CAMPBELL 77’), 8.Roman HOFMANN, 10.Benjamin LITFIN (14.Benjamin LYVIDIKOS 80′), 11.Nikola MIRKOVIC, 12.Lochlan REUS, 13.Rhys SAUNDERS, 18.Daniel DRAGICEVIC (5.Riley DILLON 59’), 21.Jordon LAMPARD
Unused substitutes: 15.Eoghan MURPHY, 19.Zamin TSELEPY
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil
Referee: Matt Skinner; Assistant Referee 1: Brad Burton; Assistant Referee 2: Patrick Dwyer; Fourth Official: Cameron Fawcett
WORDS by Aaron Cooper, PHOTOS by Andrew Shaw
