Lions FC 2 (Hatfield 26′; Carlos 39′)
Brisbane Roar Youth 0
HT 2-0
Two first half goals from Chris Hatfield and Shaun Carlos proved enough as Lions FC made it six wins on the trot with victory over Brisbane Roar Youth on Tuesday night.
The game, rescheduled from Saturday night following a power failure at Lions Stadium, was comfortably controlled by the hosts for much of the contest. Even a late second half penalty save from Roar’s Macklin Freke to deny Nathan Shepherd couldn’t deny the hosts a deserved three points.
Lions should have taken the lead on 8 minutes when Marek Madle laid the ball teasingly for Shepherd, but the Lions midfielder fluffed his lines, mishitting his effort for Roar to easily clear.
A half volley from Josh Brindell-South on the quarter hour mark then forced a good save from Freke.
Midway through the half though, Lions did find the opener and it came in style. A good build up starting with a run into the box from Shepherd, eventually led to the ball being teed up for Hatfield who, from some 20 yards out, drilled a low drive beyond Freke into the bottom right corner of the goal.
A rare opportunity ten minutes later for the visitors should however have seen them back on level terms. Cristian Aloisi put through one on one against Lions keeper Luke Borean concluded with a poor dragged effort wide of the target from the Roar striker and a let off for the home side.
Moments later that missed chance from Roar would be punished when Shaun Carlos fired home from the edge of the box to make it 2-0 just before the break.
The second term was largely controlled by the hosts as Roar were forced to defend for mush of the half.
Shepherd going close shortly after the restart with a powerful strike that Freke did well to palm away.
Despite dominating, Lions were unable to convert from a number of forays on goal but with less than ten minutes of regular time remaining they were awarded a spot kick when a Roar defender was adjudged to have handled in attempting to clear a corner.
Nathan Shepherd looking to add to his tally for the season stepping up but Freke guessed right and superbly parried away Shepherd’s effort.
Lions continued to put the game out of reach with the visitors failing to register a meaningful shot on target second half.
Carlos nearly added to his goal on the night late on with a curling effort from the edge of the box but the ball floated agonisingly over the bar.
Lions return to action on Saturday with a trip to NPL newcomers Gold Coast Knights at the Coratian Sports Centre.
Moony’s Remarks:
“I was happy with a lot of our build up play and press tonight, it was some of the best we’ve produced all season. But in truth I’m not happy with what we produced in the final third this evening; its below standard and I let the players know that at half time. If we want to achieve anything this year we need to be better in the final third and more ruthless. We’re going to keep working hard at it and try to get better but there’s still a long way to go.”
Team Line ups:
Lions FC
Borean (gk), Simic, Jarrard, Sawyer, Hatfield, Brindell-South, Shepherd, Thompson, Carlos, Kim, Madle.
Subs: Riley (rgk), Walpole, Jelacic, Reardon, Macuace.
Brisbane Roar Youth
Freke (gk), Wellsmore, Boyce, Arnison, Bafford, Martin, Dehmie, Castaneda, Courtney, Aloisi, Talbot
Subs: Hunter (rgk), Ramazani, Muratovic, Brooks.
Referee: Isidro Terol Crespo
