Lions FC 13 (Maher 2′, 25′,48′, 90+1′; Solorzano 22′; Brindell-South 29′; Daley 33′ pen, Hore 60′, Glockner 72′, 82′, 84′ pen; Thompson 78′; Reardon 86′)
Sunshine Coast Fire 0
HT 5-0
Sunshine Coast Fire’s woes continued when Lions served up a 13-0 demolition of the NPL basement dwellers on Saturday night at Lions Stadium.
Jean Carlos Solorzano finally emerged in Lions colours following a delay to his international clearance whilst Lions also fielded Jesse Daley who returned from a three week trial stint in the US. Shaun Carlos was absent for this RD7 clash being at a wedding.
Lions quickly got into their stride when Chris Maher fired the hosts ahead in the 2nd minute with the first of his four goals on the night.
Despite the scoreline it took until midway through the half before Lions extended their lead when Solorzano opened his account with a deft chip over Fire keeper Daniel Hyde following a precise through ball from Daley.
Just three minutes later and Fire were picking the ball from the back of the net for the third time when Solorzano turned provider, playing in Chris Maher who challenged Hyde for the ball on the penalty spot and had it break nicely for him to tap into an empty net.
A superb solo effort from Josh Brindell-South made it 4-0 on the half hour when he stole the ball in midfield, made a gliding run to near the edge of the box before unleashing a thunderbolt that whistled over Hyde’s head.
A mistimed challenge just inside the box from Fire’s Kiyotaka Kakoi on Jesse Daley minutes later gave the lively midfielder a spot kick which he duly converted to further extend the host’s lead on 33 minutes.
Mitch Hore almost made it six on the stroke of half time but his effort was well saved by Hyde.
The one blemish on the night was Daley picking up a needless caution for kicking the ball away and nearly repeating the effort moments later but avoiding further sanction from the referee before the half time whistle went. It would force him to be withdrawn during the break with Carter Glockner replacing him for the start of the second term.
Lions went on the rampage in the second half and were 6-0 up on 48 minutes with Maher netting his hat trick with a fine finish from Jacob Alexander’s cross.
Solorzano went close moments later, then on the hour mark Hore finally reaped reward for his tireless effort on the night with a clinical finish from Brindell-South’s cut back from the goal line.
The goals continued to rain in as the game entered into the final 20 minutes with Glockner making eight to the good when rounding his opponent after latching onto sub Liam Cosgrove’s neat ball into the box and firing low beyond Hyde.
Andy Thompson made it 9-0 when his first time finish from Maher’s cross wrong footed Hyde.
Double figures flashed up on the scoreboard soon after in amazing fashion when Maher was again provider. His first cross was met by Thompson who’s shot was blocked by Hyde but Maher picked up the rebound and picked out Glockner who easily fired home with Hyde stranded and the Fire defence nowhere to be seen.
Glockner then got his hat trick two minutes later from the penalty spot when Solorzano was tripped by Sam Standish when the former Roar striker cut inside him to shoot. Glockner smashing the ball home despite Hyde guessing the right way.
Substitute Nathan Reardon got in on the act too, firing past Hyde shortly before the 90 minutes were up and the rout was completed when Maher’s superb strike inside Hyde’s near post from a narrow angle in added time made it lucky 13 for the hosts.
Lions head to Moreton Bay United next week for what will undoubtedly be a far stiffer test whilst for Fire, it’s worrying times and unless something happens quickly, they will be favourites for the wooden spoon.
“I’ve got mixed emotions right now to be honest, I don’t know what to say.”
“I could be diplomatic in saying we were good but the honest truth is they were terrible. That’s way below the standard we should strive for at this level, I’m just lost for words.”
“I want to say how well we did but we didn’t have to try too hard to be honest and just expect better from sides. That may come back to bite me later in the season and they could turn it around and beat us up there, but from what I saw tonight I can’t see it and it was compounded on the night when they had no physio to treat one of their players and we sent one of ours on; that’s well below the standard we expect from a second tier competition.”
Team line-ups:
Lions FC:
Borean (gk), Thompson, Alexander, Simic, Jarrard, Hore, Solorzano, Daley, Kim, Brindell-South, Maher.
Subs: Cuminao (rgk), Reardon, Shepherd, Cosgrove, Glockner.
Sunshine Coast Fire:
Hyde (gk), Standish, Kakoi, Marsay, Brown, Mellish, Gray, Sanchez, Koshimizu, Kallis, Hudson.
Subs: Dix (rgk), Swain, New, Adam, McMaster.
