Brothers hit back to claim unlikely victory in ‘bizarre’ contest

BROTHERS coach Paul Daly has described his side’s 7-5 win over Rebels at Hi Vista Park on Saturday night as unlike anything he’s seen before in the North Queensland Premier League.

Rebels came out firing for a 4-1 halftime lead before a flurry of four goals in just 12 minutes to start the second saw Brothers hit the front.

Rebels found an equaliser at 5-5, but a hat-trick from Brothers veteran Michael Eisenhut helped the home side come away with the points in a seesawing contest.

“It was an absolutely bizarre game of football to be honest,” Daly said.

“Rebels were half absolutely awesome in the first half. They came out and they played some really good football.

“It would be very easy to come in at 4-1 and say that game’s done, but we didn’t do that. We decided we wanted to be the team that actually went out and had a go.

“We came out and within 12 minutes of the second half starting we’d scored four goals so we’d gone from being 4-1 behind to 5-4 in front. I’ve never seen that in a game of football before in this town.”

Brothers became the first Townsville club to make it to the FFA Cup Round of 64 last month, but that campaign took its toll as they’ve slipped down the ladder in the local Premier League.

The win over Rebels keeps Brothers in the top four and Daly hoped it could spark a winning run.

“It certainly kicks some belief in. We actually saw a bit of spirit and heart that we’d been lacking over the previous weeks,” he said.

In the other Premier League games, ladder leaders MA Olympic stretched their winning streak to 10 games with a 2-0 win over Burdekin.

Saints Eagles Souths kept their finals hopes alive after edging out Warriors 4-3 while Wulguru snared a 3-0 victory over Ingham.

In the women’s Premier League, Brothers and Rebels fought out a 2-2 draw while MA Olympic beat Burdekin 2-0 and Saints Eagles Souths crushed Warriors 10-1.