Broadbeach Utd 1 (Yanai)
Musgrave 0
HT: 0-0
BROADBEACH United recorded their second win in as many games against a gallant Musgrave and moved into the chasing pack of the Buffalo Sports Premier League with a 1-0 win over Oscar Langone’s men.
Japanese striker Shunya Yanai was Musgrave’s nemesis once again as he struck a late winner to register his third goal in two games against the Premier League high-flyers.
The two teams met in the quarter final of the Dog & Parrot FA Cup last week with a double from Yanai helping Broadbeach to a 3-2 win, and he again was the difference between the sides after a tense encounter at Broadbeach Oval.
Musgrave learned the lessons of their cup exit when they were out-muscled by Broadbeach and applied a more physical edge to their display to compliment their usual free-flowing style.
Their approach resulted in some solid periods of possession, particularly in the opening half, but it was United who had the more clear-cut opportunities to break the deadlock.
The critical moment came ten minutes from time when a defence-splitting pass from halfway gave Yanai a chance to show his pace and clinical eye for goal. Indecision in the Musgrave rearguard helped Yanai to engineer a shot from the edge of the penalty area he watched gleefully as his strike clipped the inside of the upright and nestled in the back of the net.
United battened down the hatches for the remainder and left their Coach Simon Kalaba with a smile on his face yet again after recording back-to-back wins for the first time this term.
“We spoke all week about our league position and we knew that if we didn’t get the three points in this one then it would put us under a lot of pressure,” Kalaba said.
“It was a massive win for us after training the house down all week. Every single one of the lads did superbly well and they know now what it takes to get three points.”
After watching his troops’ determined approach matched by an equally committed Musgrave, Kalaba paid tribute to his opponents and said they will recover well from their first league defeat of the campaign.
Kalaba said: “We wanted to be as physical as last week but be a bit more clinical with our chances. Musgrave more than matched us in that department though and they were very strong.
“That put us on the back-foot a little bit and we struggled to win the second ball at times. It was a tough, hard game of football that neither side really deserved to lose.
“Oscar’s side play the game in the right way. They have a good passing game and last night they added a physical side to it. They’ll have a very good season; that’s for sure.”
Musgrave were without key forward Pat Cronin who has been absent for three games with a hamstring injury, but Langone is hopeful of welcoming Cronin back for next week’s clash with Mudgeeraba.
And they could do with the return of their cutting edge. After starting the season unbeaten for the first five rounds they have now lost their last two outings but Langone is refusing to press the panic button just yet.
“The performance was good though and I’m happy with that. I’m not concerned with the result as such because the game could have easily gone our way. The points aren’t there for us but we were doing a lot of things right,” he said.
“I thought we were the better team all over the park. We worked hard and did well but one mistake at the back cost us,” Langone added.
