'Stepping stone' to Power's main goal

Peninsula Power took ‘pride’ and ‘positives’ from last night’s FFA Cup defeat by Brisbane Roar and is now focused on its season's main goal – retaining the NPL title.

Power went down 3-0 at Moreton Daily Stadium, before a crowd of 2905, on its second appearance in the FFA Cup national Round of 32.

Roar, the professional A-League side, led 2-0 at the break. Power battled back in the second, but conceded a third goal three minutes from time.

“We made three mistakes and they punished us for it,” Power coach Aaron Philp said, “that’s what A-League sides do. I thought we gave them (Roar) too much respect first half.

Stepping stone

“We wanted to be a bit more aggressive and press a bit higher. We did that well (after the break), but the damage was done in the first half.”

However, Philp was “really proud” of his team and there were “lots of positives”.

“Good profile for club, Jake McLean got good minutes in his first or second game back (from injury), Josh Woolley (back from suspension) good minutes, lots of positives for us.

“We’ve now got seven games to go in the league, so this is a good stepping-stone for us to finish strong.”

Great season

Power lead the state-level NPL Qld with games in hand on its rivals and defender Michael McGowan said returning to the league at Capalaba on Sunday, would not be a problem.

“We’ve had a great season so far,” he said, “we’ve had a hiccup in the last couple of weeks, but we’ll put that to bed at the weekend and get back on the road again.

“We had a game plan tonight and unfortunately we made some mistakes. It wasn’t anything to do with the tactics. They punished us as good teams do.”

Roar coach Warren Moon, a former player and coach at Power, used his experience of the lower leagues for last night’s cup tie.

Other side

“In games against NPL opposition, you want to start well and ensure you are on the front foot,” Moon said.

“I’ve been on the other side, in the changing room, giving that team talk about staying in the game, they’re an A-League side, we’ll jag a goal.

“I know what their talk probably was. For us, we had to start well and try to get a goal in the first 20 (minutes) … and we did that.”

Signings strike

Three of Moon’s new signings were on target. Finnish-German midfielder Ville Matti Steinmann scored the first in the 19^th minute with a cool finish.

Luke Ivanovic, signed from Sydney, headed the second on 33 minutes and Argentinian Juan Eduardo Lescano broke away for a third in the 87^th minute.

Roar are the first Queensland side through to the national Round of 16, the furthest they have been in 2014 and 2019.

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