Brisbane Roar have kicked off their National Youth League campaign with a 2-0 victory over last season’s pace-setters, Gold Coast United.
Brisbane Roar have kicked off their National Youth League campaign with a 2-0 victory over last season-s pace-setters, Gold Coast United.
After weathering a storm of Gold Coast attacks in the opening stanza, two second half goals sealed the win for Brisbane – the youngsters happy to follow in the footsteps of their Hyundai A-League counterparts, who recorded a 3-0 result over the same opponents last night.
Head Coach John Sime took pride in his side-s first outing for the season, especially in their form late in the fixture.
“Considering today was our first competitive game, there were some parts of the game that were certainly rusty and in all honesty, I thought we did well today,” he said.
“I was happy with the performance, especially the second half – in the last 15 minutes, we were playing exactly like the first team, we ran them ragged and physically we were far fitter than they were”.
In similar fashion to last night-s M1 Derby, the substitutions proved key to the home side-s success with all three of Sime-s replacements making major contributions to the match-s final result.
Brandon Borrello netted the opening goal in the 66th minute after a superb run down the right flank from Nick Fitzgerald.
Six minutes later, fellow substitute Alistair Quinn won a penalty, which was coolly converted by Ken Dougall.
“They came on and helped us change the game, Alistair could-ve scored three, Brandon could-ve scored three and Kenny as well,” Sime said.
“We needed a little bit of an injection of speed, it was quite warm out there today”.
Sime also reserved special praise for Hyundai A-League squad members Luke Brattan and Jack Hingert who both put in impressive 90 minute performances against the Gold Coast side.
“They were absolutely excellent and they worked hard,” he said.
“Sometimes when A-League guys come in that-s not the case but Luke and Jack should be recognised for their outstanding contributions”.
Brisbane Roar Youth 2 (Brandon BORRELLO 66-, Ken DOUGALL (p) 72-)
Gold Coast United Youth 0
Saturday, 22 October 2011
Cleveland Showgrounds, Brisbane
Referee: Alan Milliner
Brisbane Roar: 1. Matthew ACTON (gk), 3. Corey BROWN, 4. James DONACHIE, 5. George LAMBADARIDIS (13. Ken DOUGALL 58-), 7. Chris BUSH (c), 8. Jason GERIA, 9. Matt THURTELL (11. Brandon BORRELLO 53-), 10. Tomislav CIRJAK (2. Alistair QUINN 53-), 12. Luke BRATTAN, 15. Nick FITZGERALD, 17. Jack HINGERT
Substitutes not used: 20. James ECCLES (gk)
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil
Gold Coast United: 1. Jerrad TYSON (gk), 3. Mitch BEVAN (c), 4. Daniel BOWLES, 5. Matija SIMIC, 9. Daniel BRAGG (14. Elliott RONTO 60-), 13. Chris LUCAS, 16. Zachary ANDERSON, 17. Jake BARKER-DAISH, 18. Daniel SEVERINO, 19. Ambes YOSIEF (6. Neko VUJEVICH 58-), 20. Tahj MINNIECON (8. Mitch COOPER 46-)
Substitutes not used: 12. Brendan WHITE (gk)
Yellow cards: Daniel BRAGG 16-, Tahj MINNIECON 38-, Daniel BOWLES 45-, Matija SIMIC 71-, Chris LUCAS 76-
Red cards: Nil
