Resilience is a key attribute in any sport and following last week’s defeat against Caloundra it was important for the Noosa Lions Under 23s and Men’s teams to bounce back at home against Maroochydore.
An emphatic 11-1 win for the Under 23s and a convincing 4-0 victory for the Mens team was a statement of intent from this talented squad.
The team song was sung loud and proud as the Lions roared again.
A slick performance from the Under 23s who were 6-1 up at half-time highlighted the technical ability of the squad, with a plethora of well-taken team goals resulting from some excellent attacking interplay and solid defence.
Jake Mjask notched another hat-trick with Ben Moffat standing out in an impressive high-energy and fast paced team effort. Earlier in the day Tom Jaggs bagged three more goals to add to his impressive tally of 23 goals from 16 games for the Noosa Under 18 Blue team who won 5-0 at Gympie.
Maroochydore started brightly with the pace of their forwards putting the Noosa defence on alert. Cameron Boldy reacted smartly in the third minute to come out of his area and snuff out an attack down the Noosa right. This turned out to be the first of only two saves he had to make in the game as the Noosa defence proved impregnable. With Oli Williams, Nick Cookman and Olly Blackmore dominating the midfield, Maroochydore did well to restrict Noosa to two goals in the first half. It was Williams who opened the scoring in the 5th minute with a well-placed shot from the edge of the box and he could have had two more before his brother Jack, reacted quickest, picking up a rebound and rounding the goalkeeper to roll the ball into the empty net.
Jack Williams remained a menace down the right flank after the break, stinging the palms of the Maroochydore goalkeeper a minute into the second half. In the 51st minute Myles Dresher broke through the embattled visitors’ defence and calmly slotted his shot into the bottom corner to make it 3-0. As the rain fell, Noosa continually poured down on the Maroochydore goal with chance after chance being created, saved, deflected or going high and wide. The Maroochydore defence worked hard to limit clear cut chances but were struggling to cope with the combinations and interplay of the Noosa midfield and the pace and skill of Adey on the left and Jack Williams on the right.
Substitute Matt Thompson wasted no time making his mark, coolly lifting the ball over the keeper for the fourth goal just moments after coming on in the 70th minute. As Noosa Coach, Matt Digwood, made more changes it was impressive to see the hunger for more goals was not diminished with Cookman, Thompson and Oli Williams all having shots well saved and the whole team pressing until the final whistle. “Convincing, solid team performances, very pleasing to see” was Digwood’s summary with a bounce in his step.
Next Match: Kawana v Noosa Lions – Saturday 2 August at Kawana, U23s 4pm, Men’s 6pm.
