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Olympic FC moved into early NPLQ favouritism in Round Three, dispatching Brisbane Strikers 7-2.It was a dominant weekend for Brisbane clubs with Moreton Bay, Brisbane City and Redlands also recording heavy wins.
QAS 0
Palm Beach Sharks 3 (Hilton 8' McKay 34' Dillon 56')
The opening match of the round proved to be Palm Beach's first NPLQ win, cruising to a comfortable 3-0 victory over the Queensland Academy of Sport.
The first-half dismissal of Abraham Yango punctuated an underwhelming afternoon at Perry Park for the QAS who, despite the presence of Brisbane Roar youngsters Jack Bladen, Cameron Crestani, Alex Schiavo and Sam Cronin, conceded three evenly spread goals to Mat Hilton's terrific acrobatic volley, Justin McKay's commanding header and Riley Dillon's finish of a neat one-two.
Palm Beach's first three points move them into mid-table ahead of the Easter break.
Moreton Bay Jets 3 (South 54' Joseph 63' McEvoy 82')
Northern Fury 0
A second-half blitz from Moreton Bay was the precursor to the round's forthcoming imbalances, notching three after the break to dispose of Northern Fury.
The Jets, playing out of Albany Creek's Wolter Park, shook off the visitors with two goals in nine second-half minutes from Jay South and Moses Joseph, before Michael McEvoy added a late third to seal the hosts' position in equal first.
The match ended a three-match run away from home to open the season for Fury as they meet Western Pride at the Townsville Sports Reserve on April 7th.
Brisbane Strikers 2 (Thurtell 10' Hews 87')
Olympic FC 7 (Robinson OG 3' Petrie 17' Smits 33', 40', 70' Byrne 76' Panic 89')
Olympic had already impressed in the NPLQ with two wins to open the season, but took their reputation to the next level on Saturday night with an incredible 7-2 away defeat of Brisbane Strikers.
The hosts recovered from an inexcusable own-goal error of captain Nick Robinson, without suspended central-defensive partner Corey Hooper, and a series of Olympic chances to level in the 10th minute through Matt Thurtell's poaching play. But after Thurtell and Ryan Cokell spurned a pair of opportunities for a second, Olympic took control, beginning with Jack Petrie's strike into the bottom corner which caught Brisbane 'keeper David Chambers static.
The two periods before and after the break belonged to the prolific Tim Smits, who a netted a trio of successive classy finishes for a hattrick in under 40 minutes - his fourth, fifth and sixth goals of the season.
Two more for Olympic sandwiched Chay Hews' 87th minute strike and tied up their heavy victory, condemning Strikers to their heaviest defeat since rejoining local and state football.
FNQ Heat 0
Brisbane City 7 (Biggins 18' Pase 20' Murray 28', 61' Blackadder 34' Dougall 43' Shannon 86')
A trip away from home was the occasion Brisbane City needed to set their season in motion on Saturday night, crushing Far North Queensland 7-0 for their first points of the campaign.
Two home losses were not the start City coach Glen Volker would have wanted from his side but they bounced back impressively at Cairns' Barlow Park, slamming five first-half goals past the opening-round victors.
Most notable was the brace of English striker Antonio Murray, formerly a member of the non-professional 'England C' squad, to go with his classy opener last weekend.
City will expect to make it two in two as they next host Central Queensland, while FNQ meet the Strikers at Redlands' Cleveland Showgrounds.
Redlands United 11 (Fyfe 19', 58' Saul 33' Way 39' 55' 56' 67' 75' Macauce 63' O'Brien 82' Snowdon 90')
CQ Energy 2 (Geddes 35', 45')
Redlands excelled at home on a warm Brisbane afternoon to destroy Central Queensland with eight goals after the break.
Incredibly, it appeared as though the match might have tipped in Energy's favour when Chris Geddes bagged his second and brought the scoreline back to 3-2 on half-time, but a show-stopping bag of five from former Gold Coast United youth player Reuben Way propelled the Devils to an unthinkable 11-2 victory.
Central Queensland sit last on the NPLQ ladder and must turn any slim positives they can into post-Easter competitiveness.
Western Pride 0
Sunshine Coast 4 (Frew 4', 12' Knight 55' Smith 59')
Despite play being suspended on 80 minutes because of heavy thunderstorms, Sunshine Coast's 4-0 lead over Western Pride stood as the final result on Sunday.
The North Ipswich Reserve copped a battering from the weather that might have extended further to the home side's defence with ten minutes remaining, having already conceded the two sealing goals Sunshine Coast needed to secure their second win of the season.
Earlier, home-grown attacker Kane Frew had given Fire a two-goal advantage inside 15 minutes.