Gold Coast City find quality in their substitutes to snare win
Yet coach Grae Piddick had a couple of aces up his sleeve and when he summoned classy strikers Sam Smith and Rhys Saunders from the bench the match was turned on its ear.
Smith, who substituted for defender Eoghan Murphy in the 53rd minute, took only six minutes to level at 1-1.
Then it was the turn of Saunders, who replaced Jarrod Kyle after 56 minutes, hit his first goal since returning to City from a US college with seven minutes left on the clock to give the ladder leaders a 2-1 result.
“Having quality to bring off the bench is really important and we definitely got that against the Force,” Piddick said of the injection of Smith and Saunders.
It was a shrewd move by Piddick to keep some quality for the latter stages.
City had played an FFA Cup qualifier the previous Saturday and were forced to back up for another FFA Cup qualifier in Toowoomba on Wednesday night.
“It was good to get another win after a heavy schedule with three games in a week and with travel involved,” Piddick said.
“That definitely took its toll on performance and you could see the players were a bit fatigued.
“Yet they found a way to push their way through it.”
City came through the Ipswich exercise unscathed and will now freshen up for their next NPL Queensland match against Moreton Bay United at Mallawa Drive on Saturday night.