KNIGHTS ON FIRE AGAIN

Gold Coast Knights 5 (Sleight, Stewart, Mutch, Skopljak, McBean)

Mudgeeraba 0

HT 0:0

JOHN Stewart’s Gold Coast Knights side made sure of a semi-final spot in the Dog & Parrot FA Cup with a rousing second half performance against a demoralised Mudgeeraba.

Goalless at the break, the game sprung to life in the second period with the Knights turning the screw on their opponents with five unanswered goals, making it ten goals in two games for Stewart’s men.

Last week’s hat-trick hero, Luke Sleight, opened the scoring ten minutes into the second and shortly after Craig Stewart’s free-kick stunned Mudgeeraba, doubling the Knights’ lead and effectively ending the game as a contest.

Mudgeeraba’s task was made even harder when substutute Ross Weaver was dismissed for a denying a goalscoring opportunity, having only been on the pitch for a few minutes. It got worse for Marc Boelen’s troops when Dave Mutch’s neat turn and shot made it 3-0 before Deni Skopljak added the fourth and Chris McBean finished Mudgeeraba off with the final goal. 

Missing the likes of David Pilic and Tony Pearcey, Knights coach John Stewart said the result gives positive signals that a productive season could be on the cards, citing depth and unity as the key to success.

“We had about five regular players out and brought in some young boys. The result shows me that we have good depth and it’s looking promising for us to have a really good year,” Stewart said.

“We approach every game as seriously as we can and we want to keep this momentum going. The more semi-finals, finals and big games you play in as a team, the better your team becomes.

“All our players get on very well together and the work hard for each other on the pitch; I think the results are showing that,” he added.

For Mudgeeraba boss Marc Boelen it was a familiar story to last week when two quick-fire goals knocked the stuffing out of his side after enjoying their fair share of chances to take the lead.

Boelen said: “I don’t think the score tells the true story to be honest. We had five clear-cut chances in the first half and they didn’t have any. At half-time it was not a matter of if we were going to win, it was by how much.

“We don’t have anyone who can take the game by the scruff of the neck though and in the second half we completely capitulated. They got one, then another, and that was it. The Knights took their chances then we had a player sent off and it was game-over basically.”

Boelen added that he needed his senior players to stand up and be counted if they are to reignite their flagging season and halt their current form slide.

“We need some of our more highly credentialed players to step up to the mark and we need to learn how to win,” he said.