Last-gasp penalty to rescue of Heat

FOOTBALL UGLY wins are three points nonetheless and that’s exactly the attitude of FNQ Heat coach Tim Campbell after his side stole it at the death against Brisbane Roar Youth in their Round 15 NPL clash.

An injury time penalty to Crios O’Hare broke the deadlock at Endeavour Park on Saturday to give the 10-man Heat an important victory in the context of the season after giving the visitors “too much respect” in the first stanza.

The second half started much better until Charlie Beverley was given a straight red after appearing to stand on the leg of his opponent while getting to his feet after a challenge.

In controversial circumstances, Roar Youth player Daniel Leck was supposedly in agony on the ground but once the card was issued he sprung to his feet cheering and clapping as if his injury pain had suddenly vanished.

But unlike previous years, the Heat didn’t let it faze them and eventually they struck the killer blow.

Campbell said there was plenty to improve on from the performance but savoured the three points.

“I know it’s the Roar and I know they’re young players of the future, but I think we gave them too much respect and sat off them and let them play a bit,” he said.

“We changed that in the second half and I think that’s when we started to dominate.

“I never thought we were in trouble against the Roar. You know they’re a good side, play the ball around a lot and to be fair Kevin Ward made two or three good saves as well, especially in the first half.

“But the second we just dominated, created lots of chances, a few incidents in the game seemed to follow us around, I don’t know why. We don’t ever seem to understand those incidents and I can’t comment on them because I didn’t actually see them.”

Campbell said he didn’t see the red card incident but was “bamboozled” about the reason for a 50th minute Crios O’Hare strike from outside the box being disallowed for offside, but in the end it was inconsequential.

“The flag didn’t go up until after the goal, so I’m not sure of it being in the lead-up. But anyway, we’ll move on from it like we do most weeks from these decisions,” he said.

The win puts the Heat into fourth spot ahead of games against those either side of them in the NPL ladder.

“A massive two games coming up away at Moreton Bay and at Olympic are going to form our season,” he said. ROUND 15 SCORES • Pride 5 d Redlands 0 • FNQ Heat 1 d Roar Youth 0 • Strikers 1 d Bris City 0 • Olympic 1 d Moreton Bay 0 • Gold Coast 3 d Thunder 0 • Fury 2 d Sun Coast 0