SWQ Thunder battle negative opposition to secure victory

Mitchelton FC tried to ‘foul’ their way to FQPL final, but the SWQ Thunder stand tall when it counted

FOULED: SWQ Thunder midfielder Pasquale de Vita is brought down in a challenge. Picture: Kevin Farmer

FOOTBALL: Mitchelton built a reputation as a free-flowing attack-minded team over the course of the FQPL regular season.

Only four teams scored more goals than the Brisbane outfit, but on Saturday their line-up and tactics were different to the ones they used in previous encounters.

Jacob Mengotti lined up in the midfield with clear instructions to shadow and shutdown Thunder midfielder Pasquale de Vita.

Mengotti fouled de Vita countless times, but the Italian had the last laugh – scoring a sublime individual goal in the 85th minute.

Mitchelton’s high press in defence also forced the Thunder to move away from their normal style, but keeper Pierce Clark says there is a plenty to “celebrate”.

“We knew it was going to be a battle for the 90 minutes,” Clark said.

“They played a little different tactics compared to when we last played them.

“They were very niggly, fouled a lot and tried to slow it down.

“I thought we played really good to overcome it – there was some tough football and we did well.

“I think we were very resilient, they defended well and things weren’t going our way, but we kept at it.

“We’ve won pretty comfortably the last four weeks, but that one was a real battle.

“That’s what the final is going to be like, so this game prepares us really well.”

Originally published as SWQ Thunder battle negative opposition to secure victory