April 30, 2018
The fourth round of the South Burnett’s local football competition was played in Nanango and Kingaroy on Saturday.
In Nanango, the Panthers faced off against Barambah in the women’s competition at the Burnett Street sports fields.
The lady Panthers overpowered the Bears in the first half, with Cass Kelly drawing blood in the 12th minute, followed by Lauren Sims eight minutes later, then Sims once more just a minute before half time.
The Bears were unable to come up with any reply until Taylah Berlin finally found the back of the Panthers’ net nine minutes into the second half.
But any joy this may have raised in the northerners’ ranks was quickly deflated by Panther Jo Downie, who sank an equaliser just six minutes later.
After this, the two teams doggedly held each other off from any further advances until the full time whistle.
This left the Panthers with all the points, taking the match 4-1.
However, the Men’s Division match which was scheduled to follow the Women’s Division game was postponed.
This year the Panthers are struggling for numbers in their men’s squad, with many of their best veteran players taking part in the Toowoomba competition.
Will some of them don Panthers colours in the coming fortnight while South Burnett United take a short vacation from the Toowoomba Football League?
Only time will tell …
* * *
In Kingaroy, home teams Wests and Gunners took to the park for their own hard-fought contests.
In the Women’s Division, the two teams proved to be evenly matched despite Gunnettes taking to the field with just nine players.
Two of the Gunnettes are currently sidelined with injuries, and a late signing failed to gain playing approval in time for Saturday’s game.
Even so, the plucky Gunnettes refused to let their heads drop over this temporary player shortage.
While they were unable to pierce Wests’ defences and sink a rocket into the nets at any point in the match, Wests were in the same boat despite their numerical superiority.
In the end, both teams wound up sharing the points in a scoreless draw.
In the Men’s Division match which followed under lights, Gunners gained an early lead when Denzel Strauss found the back of Wests’ net barely a third of the way into the first half.
Wests tried valiantly to score an equalizer, but were unable to get any joy by half time.
This goal drought continued in the second half until the 60th minute, when Wests’ Steven Wheeler landed a ball into the back of Gunners’ net, followed by Caleb Jenkins eleven minutes later.
Gunners pushed hard to score again in order to secure a draw but failed to achieve it by full-time, leaving Wests with a 2-1 victory.
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Toowoomba Football League
In the Toowoomba Football League, South Burnett United continued their winning ways on the weekend, defeating Willowburn Red 3-1 in an away game.
The goal scorers were Joey Copas (twice) and Ethan Schultz.
There are no TFL matches being played this coming weekend, and United will have a bye the following weekend.
But local fans will be able to see them in action against Chinchilla on Sunday, May 20 when the two teams play at the Kingaroy Soccer Fields at 1:00pm.
So far this year United have won every match they’ve played in except for a 2-all draw against Willowburn White on March 25.
The Whites, who’ve played one more match in the competition than United, currently sit on top of the table with United breathing down their necks.
United haven’t played Chinchilla so far this year, but the local team will be going into the match as favourites to win.
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FFA Cup
The Kingaroy Senior Soccer Club have been knocked out of this year’s Football Federation of Australia (FFA) Cup.
The club played against the University Of Southern Queensland before a home crowd in Kingaroy on Sunday, April 22.
USQ won the Round 3 match in the knockout competition 5-2, which put paid to KSSC’s chances.
In the previous round, KSSC had defeated the Warwick District Football Association 6-2.
* * *
Junior Competition
In Saturday’s junior competition:
12/13 Age Group
- Blacks Electrical Redbacks 10 – Goldmix Stockfeed Bears 1
- Sports F1rst Redbacks 2 – Mr Minit Redbacks 2
Cadets
- Total Building Solutions Qld Bears 2 – South Burnett Window Tinting Redbacks 1
- Kingaroy Accounting and Tax Redbacks 2 – Conpak Earthmoving Redbacks 0
- South Burnett Fencing Redbacks 3 – LocalSearch Bears 3
* * *
Coming Up
There will be no junior games on Saturday, May 5.
But in the senior competition, Barambah will play Gunners at Wondai, with the Women’s Division hitting the park at 1:00pm and the Men’s Division at 3:00pm.
And in Kingaroy, Wests will play Panthers at Tom Alford Oval, with the Women’s Division kicking off at 4:00pm and the Men’s Division following under lights at 6:00pm
