By BRIAN STOCKWELL
KAWANA Premier Men had something to prove on Saturday night when they came up against the Madill Motor Group Noosa Lions in the Sunshine Coast Football Premier League.
Replaced by Noosa in the FFA cup due to a misdemeanour, the top-of-the-ladder side was looking to make amends.
Noosa, however, had come with plenty of self-belief after some excellent performances to take out the Sunshine Coast Fire and the Hervey Bay United in the FFA cup and only narrowly going down to last year’s Queensland NPL champions Palm Beach.
The Madill Motor Group Lions dominated early in the match with a number of clear chances, two of which hit the post.
The muddy conditions, however, weren’t that conducive to attacking football and the teams went into the sheds at half time locked in a scoreless draw.
Kawana, depleted by the loss of a few regular players, made the second half a tougher proposition with numerous counter attacks.
But Noosa has the best defensive record in the league thanks to the speed and skill of young backs Chris Jancevski and Aaron Waters together with the experience of Michael Williams, repelled each of the attacking forays with ease.
Just as the crowd was expecting a drawn match, Matt Needham collected a well targeted cross from Craig Hawkins and dispatched it to the back of the net which saw Kawana’s hopes of proving a point go down in the mud.
Nosa 1 d Kawana 0.
On Friday night The Lions hosted two over 35s games.
The Noosa Gold side came back from a one-nil deficit with Ronan Larking and John Pollard scoring in the last quarter to win their game against Woombye.
But it was the top-of-the-table clash that held the most interest with Noosa Blue needing to win to take first position off its local rivals Coolum.
Coming back from an extended absence due to injury (and age) goalkeeper Matt ‘Dutchy’ Holland’s first touch for the season was a goal assist with his drop kick bouncing to striker Craig Thompson who hit a half volley that any forward would be proud of straight into the top right of the goal from 25 metres.
Coolum battled valiantly but couldn’t find the equaliser.
In the 74th minute Thompson put another ball in the back of the net with what can only be described as a belly ball.
Noosa’s two-nil win takes it one point clear of Coolum on the way to its coveted fourth championship in a row.
It didn’t go all Noosa’s way with Coolum’s ladder leading third division side dispatching the enterprising but luckless Noosa side by a similar margin later in the night.
