Brisbane Premier League: Round 22

The league title race for the 2012 Brisbane Premier League is wide open after Capalaba stunned leaders Wolves FC at Carmichael Park. The chasers took full advantage with Redlands, Power and Rochedale all picking up maximum points to close the gap while wins for Easts and City sees them occupy the remainder of the top six. The Sunday twilight match saw Olympic FC end their horrid run of results and keep their finals hopes alive with an impressive win at in-form Lions.


Brisbane City 7-1 North Star
A rampant City demolished relegation battlers North Star under the Friday night lights in a mind-bobbling six-goal second half display highlighted by an Antonio Murray hat-trick.

Everyone will be talking about...
Murray’s prolific goalscoring form on a night when City coach Mark Dykman was absent, fuelling speculation of his departure.

Yeah, but what happened?
City took an early lead and dominated possession, although they took until the second half to find their scoring touch. That’s when Murray completed his treble; Brad Lacey’s goal to make it 1-2 proving nothing but a lapse in concentration for the Azzuri as the scoreline boiled over.

The numbers:
City – Murray ’10, ’62, ’83; Cuschieri ’57, ’78; Chester ’63; Shepherd ‘76
Star – Lacey ‘58

Looking ahead...
City are right back in the mix for finals football, occupying sixth spot from Lions, while North Star remain tenth after missing the chance to pull away from the relegation pack before a tough home game against Wolves.


University of Queensland 0-4 Peninsula Power
Power put in a dominating display on the road to comfortably down a UQ side low on confidence, form and league standing.

Everyone will be talking about...
Xavier Lopez. The extravagant utility certainly caught the eye with his sublime finishing and offensive display; notching a double on a comfortable night for Power.

Yeah, but what happened?
Lopez got in on the act as early as the third minute – a real sign of things to come as Uni offered little danger to Jake Reesby’s goal and Power’s backline in general. Matt Hornby marked his name off with a goal either side of the break while Lopez only took 35 minutes to grab his brace.

The numbers:
Power – Lopez ‘3, ‘35; Hornby ’32, ’48;

Looking ahead...
Wolves’ slip-up sees Power right back in contention for the league title; the Kippa-Ring side trail the leaders by just three points with both having five games to play. The winner of UQ’s trip to Taringa next week will go a long way to securing one of them safety for another season.


Wolves FC 1-2 Capalaba
A cracking Jaspal Benning strike with fifteen minutes to play sent the visitors into raptures and put a dent in Wolves’ smooth run towards back-to-back league titles.

Everyone will be talking about...
The Bulldogs’ Geoff Hurford-led defensive display was arguably their best this year. Hurford dictated his troops admirably and Wolves struggled to unravel an organised and precise defensive unit playing for their season.

Yeah, but what happened?
After Sasa Radulovic rattled the crossbar early on, Greg Warden managed to beat the offside trap and slot the ball past a stranded Marko Radovanovic to silence the home crowd. That lead lasted barely sixty seconds, as Radulovic unleashed an unstoppable shot past Tom Carroll. With the midfield battle flaring and neither side giving anything away, it took a sensational long-range effort from Benning to seal all three points for the Dogs.

The numbers:
Wolves – Radulovic ‘41
Capalaba – Warden ’40; Benning ‘75

Looking ahead...
Only a point separates Capalaba from the top six, but it certainly gets no easier next week with red hot Redlands visiting Carmichael Park for another local derby. Wolves will sweat on their one point lead at the top when they travel to North Star in Round 23; a must win game before ties with Rochedale and Power.


Redlands United 3-1 Souths United
Redlands took full advantage of Wolves’ slip-up to move within a point of the leaders with a comfortable home victory that all but relegated Souths from the BPL.

Everyone will be talking about...
Graham Fyfe’s golden boot domination. The deadly striker added another to his growing tally – his 23 goals for the season place him three clear of City’s Antonio Murray and a whopping eight clear of a host of players on fifteen.

Yeah, but what happened?
A match by and large dominated by the hosts, although they didn’t seal the result until the second half. Fyfe opened the scoring within thirty minutes, but it was George Barbarouses and Jheison Macuace’s second-half strikes that secured maximum points. Souths managed a consolation through Kei Yamaguchi.

The numbers:
Redlands – Fyfe ’26; Barbarouses ’48; Macuace ‘72
Souths – Yamaguchi ‘84

Looking ahead...
The race for the 2012 BPL league title is alive and well as Redlands make the short trip to Capalaba next week in hope they’ll be in a position to overcome Wolves, whose match will just have finished. Although not out of it mathematically Souths will need a miracle to overcome a twelve-point deficit from safety with four games to go, given they hold a -79 goal difference.


Rochedale Rovers 5-1 Taringa Rovers
Rochedale turned on the style in the last twenty minutes to net four times and send their namesake rivals packing.

Everyone will be talking about...
Nick Efstathis’ resistance breaker. Taringa had managed to hold off Rochedale to just one goal for seventy minutes largely dominated by the home side, but Efstathis’ goal ended the resilience.

Yeah, but what happened?
The visitors took a surprise lead when Daniel Trueman tapped in off a Mario Aparicio deflected shot. That didn’t last long as John Thompson beat the offside trap to the frustration of Taringa's defence. Once Efstathis’ goal hit the net in the second period the floodgates opened and Jake Mclean added a third before Carl Tabulo’s brace.

The numbers:
Rochedale – Thompson ’22; Efstathis ’71; Mclean ’75; Tabulo ’84, ‘85
Taringa – Trueman ‘19

Looking ahead...
A case of what could have been for Rochedale; if they had not had three points deducted last week they would be sitting in second, a solitary point behind Wolves. Nonetheless, they are still well poised to mount a late challenge for the league with a mouth-watering mid-week clash with Wolves on the 14th August.


North Pine 0-2 Eastern Suburbs
A first half Ryan Stenhouse penalty and late Jordan Seeto goal helped Easts overcome a determined North Pine side running out of time to rescue their season and avoid relegation.

Everyone will be talking about...
Jake Keslake’s red card. The turning point of the match. Keslake gave away a penalty and was sent packing by referee Jarred Gillett right before the break.

Yeah, but what happened?
Until Keslake’s dismissal, Pine looked composed and likely to snatch something from the game. It wasn’t to be as Stenhouse coolly slotted the resulting spot kick and with a man down Pine could not cope and were finally subjected to defeat by Seeto’s late strike.

The numbers:
Easts – Stenhouse ‘43(p); Seeto ‘86

Looking ahead...
Easts survive another week in the top six, but with just six points separating fifth from ninth, matches against Lions and City over the next two weeks will decide their finals fate. North Pine need to keep digging - their best bet for points lies against UQ in two weeks time.


Lions FC 1-3 Olympic FC
Olympic kept their slim finals chances alive with a hard fought victory at in-form Lions on Sunday afternoon.

Everyone will be talking about...
Craig Slaughter’s second strike. Having just lost their lead gained through Slaughter’s opener, the striker immediately butchered the Lions defence for a second time to break their spirit right before half time.

Yeah, but what happened?
Slaughter finished well before the half hour mark to cap off a solid opening stanza by Olympic. Lions, perhaps pre-match favourites and somewhat shell-shocked by proceedings, upped the tempo and got their equaliser through Brett Hay. But Slaughter’s response was telling before half-time with the hosts unable to recover and eventually succumbing to a late Michael Butters strike.

The numbers:
Lions – Hay ‘37
Olympic – Slaughter ’28, ’41; Butters ‘81

Looking ahead...
Olympic knew a defeat in this one would all but end their top six hopes. They now sit four points adrift of City in sixth; exactly who they come up against next week. Lions drop out of the six on goal difference to City and have two decisive games against Easts and Power before finishing off with relegation threatened North Pine and UQ.