Courageous Panthers Book Grand Final Appearance 15.09.2014 Brisbane Knights 0 Park Ridge 1 (Wybranowski 74’) Half Time: 0-0 Venue: Brisbane Knights Sports Complex Brisbane Knights: Carr, Harm, Spillane, Bek, Reid, Vrbesic, C. Romano, Kljajic, Zeeno, Fernandez. Subs: G. Romano, Travers, McAndrew, Iezzi, Saito. Park Ridge: Elms, L. Klein, Knoblauch, P. Klein, Hulett, Merefield, Adarkwah, Wybranowski, J. Robinson, Drozdek, J. Robinson, Ibanez-Formas. Subs: Worku, McLean. C. Robinson, Powe, Sheppard. The Park Ridge Panthers have booked their place in the grand final after a courageous second-half performance in the preliminary final saw them hang on for a 1-0 win against Brisbane Knights on Saturday evening. Some excellent goalkeeping from Nathan Elms and a customary daring performance from Michael Adarkwah set up the win, and a second-half goal from Michael Wybranowski sealed Park Ridge’s passage through to the final to face Holland Park. A late red-card to Jason Robinson was the only sour note for the Panthers on the night. Despite the Panther’s strength in the second-half, it was a different story in the opening 45 minutes. The Knights were coming off a narrow loss to Holland Park in last week’s semi final and they started the preliminary final with plenty of vigour and attacking intent. In the opening half hour, Park Ridge rode their luck and only some crucial interceptions from Klein and a superb one-on-one block by keeper Nathan Elms saved the Panthers from falling behind. Elms was very busy early on as the Panthers withstood a wave of attacks, but the Knights failed to capitalise on their dominance in front of goal, missing several guilt-edged opportunities. The Knights’ forward energy was making the Panthers look slow in defence and Tim Knoblauch was looking sluggish in the middle, on two occasions almost costing the Panthers a goal when he lost the ball in midfield. Drozdek was finding it hard to find space on the left and Michael Adarkwah was being well marked up front. Beside a rampaging run late in the first half which almost culminated in a goal but for a perfectly-timed Matthew Carr challenge, Adarkwah had few opportunities and Park Ridge would have entered half-time feeling slightly lucky not to be behind. Shortly after the break, Nathan Elms underlined his importance to the Panthers once again with an excellent save to prevent a certain Knights goal. The classy No.1 made himself big and stuck out a strong right leg which was just enough to deny the goal-bound shot. From there, it was all Park Ridge. The visitors were now in control all over the field and were finding it easier to deal with an increasingly disjointed Brisbane Knights performance. Adarkwah was a constant nuisance for the Knights and as they pressed higher to find the elusive opener, the imposing No.10 was enjoying plenty of space and opportunity to run at defenders using his characteristic footwork and size. On 74 minutes, the deadlock was finally broken. A fizzing cross from deep on the right evaded a cluster of players in the box and the ball fell perfectly for Michael Wybranowski, who took a touch then curled it neatly beyond Carr for the opener. Jubilant scenes followed the goal and the Panthers’ support made their considerable presence felt. Following the goal, Park Ridge pressed for a second and came close several times. Only some poor finishing and last-ditch defending denied them a sealer. In the final quarter hour, The Panthers’ attacking pressure and their intimidating pace with Mastewal Worku on the right did not allow the Knights to push forward with any great confidence, denying them a real chance of an equaliser. With the game already deep in injury time, referee Avraham Cohen was forced into action following a scuffle between James Robinson and a Knights player. Robinson brought down the Knights player in a tackle and is alleged to have kicked out in the process, which incensed the crowd and the Knights players. A violent push and shove ensued and Cohen immediately produced a red for Robinson for his involvement in both incidents. The ground steward was forced to drag Robinson off amid the angry Knights crowd and play was restarted after several minutes. From the resulting free kick, the Knights had a rare chance on goal and Elms had to intervene again. Though he dropped the cross under heavy pressure, his intervention was enough to allow the Panthers to eventually clear, and moments later the final whistle finally blew, confirming Park Ridge’s well deserved passage to the grand final. It was a frustrating evening for the Knights who slowly faded from the game after a promising start. Their 2014 campaign is now over, and all focus will instead turn to 2015 where they join Holland Park in the Trophy Superstore Premier League. For the Panthers, their excellent 2014 campaign marches forward and all eyes will be on the huge grand final clash with Holland Park next Sunday afternoon. Having beaten Holland Park in their last encounter and coupled with huge flow of momentum in recent weeks, the Panthers will be hard to beat. FB Media Man of the Match: Nathan Elmes - Park Ridge. Elms was crucial early on when the Panthers defence found themselves heavily under attack, pulling out a crucial one-on-one save. He was also responsible for an excellent save early in the second-half that denied the Knights an opener and could have greatly changed the game. Instead, the Panthers turned it around, scored, and Elms was crucial again in the dying minutes, intervening several times to preserve Park Ridge’s narrow lead. Report & Photos by: Tim Schaefer - FB Media
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 20:34:39 +0000
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