Football Matters with Cyclops

Seniors

The Panther had two matches last Saturday as part of the Finals series. The Premiers played fourth placed Riverside JCU in Townsville, winning on penalties after a 1-1 draw and going into the Preliminary Final. The Reserves played minor premiers Brothers and lost 0-3. However, they will get another chance next week.

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The Colts play Warriors in their Grand Final at 6.30 on Friday night and then on Saturday the Premiers and Reserves are both involved in Preliminary Finals. The Premiers play MA Olympic at 7.00, and the Reserves play Saints Eagles Souths at 3.00pm

Night Soccer kicked off for the 48^th season on Tuesday. Late Nominations can still be accepted. Nomination Forms are at Delta Cleaners, Intersport and Sportfirst.

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Premiers – Ayr Anzac Club

With the season on the line, the Panthers knew their elimination final against JCU was always going to be a tough contest. Burdekin started brightly and were rewarded inside the opening eight minutes when Oliver Gabiola found the back of the net to give the Panthers the perfect start. From there, however, the momentum began to shift as JCU worked their way into the game and applied plenty of pressure. Jarrod Camer was excellent in goal, producing a crucial penalty save before pulling off another very good savefrom a dangerous free kick to keep the Panthers in front. With just ten minutes remaining, JCU finally found the equaliser to make it 1–1 and send the elimination final into extra time.  

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Neither side could find the decisive goal during the additional period, meaning the season would come down to a penalty shootout. In a tense finish, the Panthers held their nerve from the spot and Camer again played his part as Burdekin prevailed 5–4 on penalties. It certainly wasn’t the easy way to do it, but finals football rarely is. The Panthers survive and advance, keeping the season alive for at least another week.

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Reserves – Burdekin Tyre Service

A team with confidence and capability travelled to Townsville for a semi-final showdown with Brothers. In warm conditions the game was played at a good pace and end to end, both teams creating half chances. A slow start was an issue when Brothers scored from a corner after nine minutes. From there the Panthers created opportunities and the goalkeeper provided several good saves. On balance the game could have been 3-3 all at halftime rather than Brothers leading 1-0.

The Panthers came out in the second half and were the dominant side. A few very good chances could have seen them in front but for some unlucky bounces, desperate scrambling by Brothers and a day where some shots were just off target.  At the hour markand against the run of play Brothers made a run into the penalty box and a soft foul resulted in a second goal from the penalty. Despite being down, the Panthers were still creating opportunities and Brothers were hanging on for the final whistle. With fifteenminutes to go the referee took away any chances of a positive result with a flurry of dubious yellow cards handed out for ‘dissent’. Despite whether it was right or wrong, the end result was Cooper Kross getting two yellow cards in a minute and being sent off.From there the result was inevitable, Brothers move to the Grand Final, and Burdekin will play against Saints next week to book the other grand final placing.

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Masters

The Masters numbers were good again and in cool conditions featured a tussle between Albania and Lichtenstein. This was the final match of the 2026 season. Best players on the night were the Georges, Karagkiozis and Koukouris. Now, it’s Night Soccer time…

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Juniors

The Juniors are officially into the final stretch of the junior soccer season, with just one week to go! Saturday saw the teams back on home turf for another round of local games. With the season coming to a close, it’s been great to see the players continue to get out there, enjoy their football and make the most of every game. One more weekend to go — let’s finish the season on a high! 

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International

The Socceroos have two friendlies against Brazil lined up. The first, on 25 September is in Townsville! And the second in Brisbane. Meanwhile in Europe the new season has started and in the EPL Manchester City and Arsenal are the only teams with maximum points after three games. In Italy’s Serie A, Roma and Inter also have maximum points and in Spain’s La Liga Barcelona are the only team with maximum points after four games.

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Quote the of the Week is from Newcastle and England star Len Shakleton after scoring six goals on a 13-0 defeat of Newport “And they were lucky to get nil.”

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