Elsewhere, Logan United tasted victory for the first time, beating Bundaberg Spirit away; Sunshine Coast FC scored three against the Capricorn Cougars to win at home and the Queensland Academy of Sport and Brisbane Strikers played out a 1-1 draw.

Sunshine Coast FC held on to top spot of the QSL table following a comfortable 3-0 win over the Capricorn Cougars. Andy Lynch’s men had plenty of chances to take the lead in the first half, but had to wait until the 67th minute to do so - courtesy of a Michael Scarff strike from the edge of the box. Substitute Ben Knight added to the goal tally five minutes later, before Shaun Blackman ensured the win with his eighth goal of the campaign. Sunshine Coast FC is now one point clear at the top of the table.

Logan United’s first home game ended in a number of other firsts. They recorded their first win of the season and kept their first clean sheet, a 3-0 victory over Bundaberg Spirit. Asa Harrington, the Premier Division 2 Golden Boot winner for the past two seasons, scored United’s first hat trick of the competition. The Spirit, despite an improvement in their quality of play from last week, were simply unable to score.

Whitsunday Miners travelled to North Queensland with just one substitute, following injuries and suspensions to some of their key players. In their fifth away game in a row, the Miners went down 1-0 after just 15 minutes. Ben Schaper equalised just before half-time to give the visitors hope going into the break. However, a fiery half-time talk from coach Mick Tonner resulted in the Razorbacks scoring another six in the second half, including a hat-trick from striker Anthony Galliozzi, to climb to third place on the QSL table.

Olympic FC were brought back down to earth following their impressive win over the Strikers last time out, conceding seven goals away from home at Cleveland Showgrounds. Redlands City Devils’ Barry Moran showed the League that Sunshine Coast FC’s Shaun Blackman is not the only player in the competition capable of scoring four goals in a game, and this means the Irishman now joins Blackman at the top of the competition’s Golden Boot tally. Redlands’ defender Craig Thompson also scored, and Andy Barton grabbed a brace in the emphatic win, with Wayne Heath bagging the single consolation goal for Olympic.

The last game of the round saw the youthful Queensland Academy of Sport take on the experienced Brisbane Strikers. The final score of 1-1 was a fair reflection on the match, which was very physical and fast-paced. Reece Tollenaere scored what he, and the Strikers’ supporters, would have thought was the winner with ten minutes to go - an easy tap-in following a run down the wing by Myles Carseldine and a flick on from Michael Butters. But the QAS didn’t give up and just five minutes later equalised through striker Joshua McVey. QAS goalkeeper Matt Acton made an important save in the dying minutes to ensure the points were shared.

Words: Michelle Tobin

Picture: Keith Eigeland


QSL ROUND 5 RESULTS
NQ Razorbacks 7 (Chris Scuderi, Sean Burke, Anthony Galliozzi 3, James Artis, Aaron Walker) - Whitsunday Miners 1 (Ben Schaper)

Bundaberg Spirit 0 - Logan United 3 (Asa Harrington 3)

Sunshine Coast FC 3 (Michael Scarff, Ben Knight, Shaun Blackman) - Capricorn Cougars 0

Redlands City Devils 7 (Craig Thompson, Andrew Barton 2, Barry Moran 4) - Olympic FC 1 (Wayne Heath)

Queensland Academy of Sport 1 (Joshua McVey) - Brisbane Strikers 1 (Reece Tollenaere)