Winger on song with no injuries
NORTH Queensland United captain Corey Waples has praised Matthew Richards’ fit- and- firing start to the season after a few years plagued by injury.
The right winger put together a man- of- the- match display where he set up the only goal in last week’s 1- 0 win against South West Queensland.
Having played for the now- defunct Northern Fury beforehand, Richards played local football with Brothers last year but was in and out of the side through injury.
But after just two games with NQU he’s proven how dangerous he can be after also scoring in the 4- 2 loss to Moreton Bay a fortnight ago.
Sixth- placed NQU can potentially leap nine points clear of the relegation zone when they host 11th- placed Gold Coast United at Brolga Park tonight.
“Richards has always been a quality player, but in the time I’ve known him he’s been plagued by injury, which is a little disappointing,” Waples said.
“He’s come back from his injury last year, he’s played two games and been influential in both.
“He stepped away because it was taking too much toll on his body, hopefully we can keep him fit.
“It’s a testament to him that he’s always in the gym and getting himself fit to get back on the pitch, I think he can be really influential for us.”
The win against the Thunder was the side’s first clean sheet of the season after conceding 10 goals in their previous two matches.
Waples knows tonight is a golden chance to get some breathing space, with the bottom two sides to be relegated at the end of the year.
“I think we can put an eightpoint gap on them ( Gold Coast). It’s still early days, but with that in mind it’s a really important game for us,” Waples said.
“The clean sheet was important to achieve, but we want to achieve that consistently.
“After conceding 10 goals in two games we were quite disappointed, but the game in Toowoomba we really concentrated on keeping a clean sheet and he really achieved it.”
Jarrod Green has now scored four goals in five matches for NQU after his winning strike against the Thunder.
He was rewarded with a place in the NPL Queensland team of the week.
“I think he was our top goalscorer ( for Fury) as well, he’s just a competitor and is good to be around because he always pushes you to be better,” Waples said.
A women’s match between NQU Women and a NQ Football All Star team will be played at 5pm before the NPL clash at 7pm.