GPS First XI Football round four wrap up
Things are heating up in the GPS First XI football competition. Take a look at how the premiership race is playing out after a soaking wet round 4.
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Ipswich Grammar School and St Joseph’s Nudgee College tied in first place following their round four wins, with Gregory Terrace remaining in the hunt in third position despite a weekend washout.
Terrace and Brisbane State High School were both delivered one point each after their Saturday afternoon fixture was unable to proceed due to the condition of the pitch. It was the only match washed out.
“Unfortunately, we can’t control the weather,’’ said Mitch Edwards, the Sports Activities Coordinator at Gregory Terrace.
“While it would have been a great game between two strong teams, we will now turn our focus to the rest of the season.
“The boys are looking forward to the added pressure and challenge of remaining undefeated to win the 2022 competition.”
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GPS FIRST XI ROUND THREE TEAM OF THE WEEK
Round four results:
St Joseph’s Nudgee College beat Brisbane Boys’ College, 5-0.
Ipswich Grammar School beat Brisbane Grammar School, 6-1.
The Southport School beat Anglican Church Grammar School, 3-1.
Ladder:
1) Ipswich Grammar School 1st XI
2) St Joseph’s Nudgee College 1st XI
3) St Joseph’s College Gregory Terrace 1st XI
4) Brisbane State High School 1st XI
5) The Southport School 1st XI
6) Brisbane Boys’ College 1st XI
7) Brisbane Grammar School 1st XI
8) Toowoomba Grammar School 1st XI
9) Anglican Church Grammar School 1st XI
Round Five’s High Stakes Match-up:
Brisbane State High School take on Ipswich Grammar School at Fursden road. Both teams are unbeaten so far. BSHS come into this game having not played since round two. They will look to regain momentum and make up for lost time.
Match Wrap and the best players from round four:
St Joseph’s Nudgee College vs Brisbane Boys’ College Match Wrap:
Brisbane Boys College played host to premiership hopefuls, Nudgee College in what proved to be a wet encounter.
Despite the heavy rain, and the deteriorating playing surface, the match officials were happy with the conditions and made the decision to commence play.
From the outset, Nudgee College were the dominant team and two goals in quick succession meant the hosts were experiencing that sinking feeling once again.
As the game wore on, it was clear that one team had adjusted to the conditions and the other had not.
The first half continued in the wet and despite the odd encounter down in the away end, the playing surface highlighted the one-way traffic that was the first period.
As the match moved into the halftime interval, the downpour of rain did not pause for a break.
The second half resumed albeit for only a short while before the game was eventually abandoned.
Best Players from Nudgee College:
Rylan Brownlie and Liam Byrne were a constant threat for Nudgee in attack and defensively the back unit of Jamie Waddington, Luke Blackwell and Dylan Meinicke switched the play well to create spaces to play forwards. Declan Parkinson controlled the game well from the midfield. Nudgee College continued their strong start to the season, their record now four wins and zero losses.
Best Players from Brisbane Boys’ College:
The right-winger Sam Bell has been ‘Mr Consistent’ for the BBC First XI, putting in honest and hardworking displays throughout the season.
Despite the intermittent conditions, Bell, also the BBC First XI cricket captain, resumed his efforts in this match and despite abandoned play, was disciplined in defence and willing in the attack throughout.
The right-side combination of Bell-Carmignani has been a highlight of the season and the weekend’s match against Nudgee proved to be an effective attacking option for the hosts. Despite the limited chances to attack, the odd foray down the right side led to the home team’s best opportunity on goal.
Davide Carmignani, the latter part of BBC’s right-side combination is the First XI Vice-Captain.
Carmignani has been a stalwart at right-back for BBC this season and has played every minute of the 2022 competition.
He is motivated by the opportunity to deliver the college’s first win in three GPS seasons, and it is his underlying leadership skills that have the greatest influence on his teammates. Carmiganani runs with ambition in each possession and is a constant threat going forward. Despite the challenging conditions of both the weather and scoreboard, the highlight of the match for the home side was when Carmignani broke upfield to catch the visitors on the counterattack.
He unselfishly squared the ball to a teammate for a simple finish, only for the effort to ricochet off the post.
The Southport School vs Anglican Church Grammar School Match Wrap:
In testing conditions, Churchie played TSS in an away game. A delayed start to the game had everyone nervous that the referees had been washed away down the Nerang River — but they did finally appear which gave the “John Deere” a few more moments to suck up as much surface water as possible.
Both sides played the conditions as best they could and it was a tale of the playing surface in each half of the River South Field.
TSS had the worst of it, clearing the ball was so difficult that they couldn’t put Churchie under too much attacking pressure in the first half. Churchie scored a terrific headed goal in the first couple of minutes, thanks to a well-placed header from Noah Bickmore. This made TSS wonder if all the effort had been worth it. It was a great free kick and a flick on header into the top corner that even TSS keeper Lachlan Duke couldn’t keep out.
The half time team talk brought out some fire and emotion from the TSS boys. TSS Director of Football Joe Dolan said “it was great to see — a little misguided, but all because they wanted to win and it proved a galvanising moment in the game.”
TSS came out in the second half knowing they had the better half of the field to defend and were confident they would create more chances in the quagmire of an attacking half which lead to the first goal of the day for star striker Oscar Porter.
Knowing that Churchie had squandered leads in previous games, the equaliser was a big test of the TSS First XI football boys character as they pushed on for more goals.
These goals that followed came due to constant TSS pressure, another for Oscar Porter and one for Captain Francois Mahu.
The TSS team could enjoy the final moments of the game knowing the 3 points were safe and well deserved.
Best Players from TSS:
Oscar Porter, Koen Gemeri, Francois Mahu
Best Players from Churchie:
The centre back pairing of Doug Pearce and Ethan Medina was a strong combination that held the TSS attack at bay, which peppered the defence with long balls. Both players put their bodies on the line and also helped start our attack from the back with some good balls in behind the TSS defence.
Storme Kapuya was solid in the heart of the midfield breaking up many attacks and helping screen the back four to limit the scoring opportunities for TSS.
Best Players from BGS:
Raphael Paino
Paino battled all day in the midfield and provided real drive and desire to get forward for the BGS First XI. He was a workhorse in providing support for his front three. He worked tirelessly to tackle and break up play, however IGS were too strong winning 6-1.
Will Gatehouse
While not getting on the scoresheet, Will held the ball up well and brought his teammates into the game. Goals will come for Will if he can continue to get into goal scoring positions.
Round five fixtures:
Brisbane Boys’ College v The Southport School
Brisbane State High School v Ipswich Grammar School
St Joseph’s Nudgee College v Brisbane Grammar School
Toowoomba Grammar School v Anglican Church Grammar School
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