GRITTY WIN FOR BURLEIGH

Burleigh Heads 2 (Russell, Heanan)

Nerang 0

HT 1:0

BURLEIGH Heads will go into their clash against Magic Utd next week as the new leaders of the Buffalo Sports Premier League following a dogged but dour 2-0 win over Nerang.

The win leaves Burleigh level on points with Gold Coast Knights and Magic Utd, but ahead on goal difference thanks to their miserly defence. Both Burleigh and the in-form Knights have a game in hand over Magic and on the evidence of this week’s games they could be ready to split from the pack.

Burleigh Coach Col Phelan conceded that it was not his team’s prettiest performance but he won’t be caring too much about presentation after locking away another precious three points in a game that had ‘banana skin’ written all over it.

“They made it really hard for us. There were times when they had eleven men behind the ball and it was tough to break them down,” Phelan said.

He continued: “Towards the end they played with three up front and I thought we needed that second goal. We’d had all the possession and created a few chances, but I was thinking that they could still go down the other end and grab an equaliser, so it was great to finally get that second one.

“We knew that Musgrave had lost so it was a massive three points for us. It’s so easy to slip up in games like this and you see it all the time. We matched them in the battle and worked really hard because we knew Nerang would never lie down.”

Burleigh opened the scoring midway through the first half with a goal of the highest quality. Con Boutsianis swept in a pin-point cross that was met sweetly by Wade Russell who found the top corner of the net with a tremendous flying header.

Despite their superior possession, Col Phelan’s men left it late to confirm the points but did so when Nathan Thompson tore down the left hand side and smashed a low ball across the penalty area. The cross found Matt Heanan who finished comfortably and relaxed the nerves of his increasingly edgy coach.

Nerang had little in response and their need for a change of form is not going to be helped by the visit of Pam Beach next week. Three consecutive defeats have left Paul Cockbain’s team entrenched in the bottom half of the table, having picked up just one win and one draw this season.