Words: Michael Flynn

Northern Fury recorded back-to-back wins for the first time this season after comfortably seeing off Brisbane City 3-1 at Townsville Sports Reserve on Saturday.

The hosts took a two-goal lead into half time courtesy of Samuel Herlihy and Jake Perry before Sean Karambasis delivered the final blow late in the match to extend City’s winless start to the PlayStation® 4 NPL Queensland season to seven games.

Fury dominated the opening exchanges and threatened the City goalmouth from a series of early corners.

The hosts opened accounts in a goalmouth scramble just after the quarter hour when Herlihy pounced to turn the ball home for his fourth goal in two weeks.

Perry then doubled the advantage only minutes later, delivering a sharp finish after Fury broke down the right.

Corey Waples came close to furthering the lead when he spotted City goalkeeper Matthew Stein off his line, however the attempt from range failed to dip and ultimately sailed over the crossbar.

Fury suffered a set-back on the half hour as Herlihy was forced from the ground with injury and was replaced by Karambasis.

The visitors struggled for clear-cut chances throughout the half despite probing in wide areas - their best chance coming midway through the half when Nick Buckley grazed the post.

City stepped up the intensity in the second half but continued to be frustrated in the final third by the Fury defenders.

Clear-cut chances also eluded Fury for much of the second period as they sought to seal the result.

With five minutes remaining, the hosts finally found a third to all but guarantee the win when Karambasis turned in a pass from Joe Thornton.

City also received late reward for their toil when Antonio Murray delivered a consolation goal a minute later - delivering a first time finish from Pazung Phang’s crafty cutback.

Fury coach Ian Ferguson praised his team’s first half performance but lamented his side’s lack of killer instinct in the second stanza.

“I thought we had total domination where we were two-nil up and comfortable, but then we go to the second half and for some reason we stop playing,” he explained.

City coach Darron Heseldon identified areas for improvement in coming weeks despite being generally happy with the progress of his side since taking the reins over Easter.

“Obviously we’re still conceding goals but most of the goals we are conceding at the moment have predominantly been from set-pieces or the dead parts of the game when the game goes into a lull and we just switch off a little bit,” he said.

Northern Fury FC  3 (Samuel HERLIHY 17’, Jake PERRY 20’, Sean KARAMBASIS 85’)
Brisbane City FC  1 (Antonio MURRAY 86’)