Former Breakers coach John Kosmina had his Brisbane Strikers on top and undefeated for his visit to Newcastle. Lee Sterrey was very pleased with away win in Canberra and was certain to have cooked up something for the game which started in hot conditions. For the first 10-15 mins it was all Brisbane with only the one chance to Witchy in that period whilst Meredith was running free delivering ball behind the defnece. With Moore playing sweeper and Pryce on the right to cover Foster and Grierson the Breakers saw little of the posession. When they did like in the 26th min they squandered chances in the box. For Brisbane Baldwin missed the best chance and slowly the tide turned as Harper and Buonavoglia started to get behind the defence. In the 44th min Witchy received a long ball from McManus and slung in a cross which was met by a strong header by Roberts past Bolton on the right and goal. 1-0.
In the 2nd half Brisbane tried to maintain their dominance and a long cross bounced off Moore for an own goal at the 46th min. 1-1. From then on Newcastle kicked up the pace and by the 58th min the Strikers raids were getting fewer. Smith cleared the danger from one such, hitting it up to Haper who slalomed through the defence and layed on a through ball for Buonavoglia. Johnny sidestepped Bolton and knocked it in. 2-1. Chances from then were even with Gwynne over from range and Buonovaglia header just wide from a free kick.
A deserved battling, counter attacking win over the previously undefeated Strikers. 1 win away from the top 6! I was very impressed by the tenacity and commitment displayed by the team (as was evident in Canberra last week).
There is still a worrying tendency to gift possession to the other team and vacate the midfield for periods but the defensive 'wall' held fairly well with Brisbane having to mainly shoot from far out, and the job done on Foster and Grierson was superb.
I liked the way the team never ever dropped their heads and although not really pretty stuff the counter attacking was very effective.
The goal by Buonavaglia was a team effort with Smith using vision to pick up Harps, who belied his ageing legs by skipping through the Brisbane lines, for a great through ball to little Johnny who is getting ever cooler when in range.
Youth league won by 2-0 over the Qld Academy of Sport with goals to Josh Rufo 45 and Mitchell Johnson 90)