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Elsewhere, it was Sunshine Coast who remained in the spotlight following the league's break weekend with a resounding 9-0 victory over Central Queensland that took their tally to thirteen goals scored and zero conceded in two rounds.
Palm Beach Sharks 0
Moreton Bay Jets 1 (Sheumack 18')
Inaugural club Moreton Bay cemented their place in the top half of the ladder on Saturday with a 1-0 victory away to Palm Beach.
Defender Mitchell Sheumack, 17, headed the Jets into an 18th minute lead and it was one they held for the remainder of the match, assisted by a 77th minute penalty save from 'keeper Christian Smith to deny the hosts a point.
The win extended Moreton Bay's unbeaten run to three matches after a string of poor results looked to have scuppered their flying start, meaning they are promisingly poised with a five-point lead on seventh-placed Northern Fury.
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| Credit: Football Queensland |
Redlands United 3 (Brattan 53' Close 80' Barbarouses 84')
Brisbane Strikers 0
Redlands shook off a four-match winless streak to dispatch fellow top-four side Brisbane Strikers with three second-half goals at Cleveland Showgrounds on Saturday night.
A goalless first-half was forgotten nine minutes after Zak Brattan drove a sweetly-struck half volley in off the Strikers' upright for the lead, followed late in the contest by Ramone Close's neat finish from Jheison Macuace's lead-up play and George Barbarouses' speed capitalising on a clever Close flick-on.
The result alone was important enough for the Devils but the quality of opposition it came against will boost their confidence heading into the second half of the season, beginning with Saturday's trip north to Cairns.
QAS 1 (Ronto p.89')
Western Pride 2 (Martinez 10' Woodruffe p.51')
Western Pride produced a professional display away to the QAS on Saturday to rise one position into ninth.
Goals in either half from left-back Zelmar Martinez and forward Russell Woodruffe helped Pride to the two-goal lead required for Elliot Ronto's 89th minute penalty to be a mere consolation.
The Academy face another tough task on Friday night when they visit Olympic's Goodwin Park, while Western Pride will be confident of recording back-to-back wins for the second time this season when they host Palm Beach.
Sunshine Coast FC 9 (Dwyer 6' Bechar 21', 44', 82' Lynch 32', 38', 48' Verdin 67' Toovey 79')
CQFC Energy 0
Head Coach Raymond Wood suffered the toughest of starts to life in charge of Central Queensland when his new club were thrashed 9-0 by a Sunshine Coast side doubling up on last weekend's 4-0 home victory.
The crushing began in the 6th minute with a goal from Leon Dwuer, before creative spark Nico Bechar scored the first of his hattrick - a treble matched by Jeremy Lynch.
The 5-0 half-time scoreline further ballooned out with four more after the break as James Verdin and Chris Toovey joined the scorers.
Fire failed to rise despite the win and heavy scoreline, staying put in fifth while Energy remained second from bottom.
Northern Fury 1 (Navarro 5')
FNQ Heat 1 (Beverly 90')
A Charlie Beverly goal seconds from stoppage time stunned a large home crowd at Northern Fury's Townsville Sports Reserve on Sunday as Far North Queensland rescued a point from the derby.
Athletic striker Jake Navarro struck first to give Fury a 5th minute lead in the spicy encounter and for 85 minutes it appeared the lone goal would be enough for a much-needed result after shipping eight goals in two weeks, but Beverly's late intervention curbed two poor losses of Heat's own.
While the draw ended successive losses for both sides it did little to help their ladder positions with Fury staying seventh and FNQ falling to tenth.
Olympic FC 1 (Ingham 6')
Brisbane City 3 (Murray 8' Frazier 41', 70')
Brisbane City stamped themselves as the in-form team of the competition on Sunday evening, consigning Olympic FC to their first defeat of the season at Goodwin Park.
Olympic were eleven matches unbeaten leading into the match between first and second while City had put together nine without loss including eight victories, and goals from star attacking pair Antonio Murray and Eric Frazier catapulted them to their biggest scalp of the season.
Young winger Jai Ingham gave Olympic a fast start by finishing high inside the near post in the 6th minute but league top-scorer Murray hit back immediately for City, peeling away from the defence and stroking clinically into the far bottom corner.
A pair of high-quality goals from American import Frazier then swung the scoreline into the visitors' favour; the first coming against the run of play when he wriggled towards goal from the byline and netted low inside the near post, and the second a scorching long-range strike worthy of a match-winner.
The result moved Glen Volker's side to within three points of Olympic, who will look to put the pressure back on their challengers with a steadying result at home to the QAS on Friday night before City visit Perry Park.