Fortunes differ for city rivals

IN one incredible game of football, the high-flying Ipswich Knights lost two key players, a valuable three points and maybe their promotion prospects.

However, cross-city rivals Western Spirit enhanced their position with victory on the same eventful day.

The Knights lost their crucial home game 3-2 to Queensland Lions, having goalkeeper Zayne Freiberg sent off and leading striker Trent Griffiths breaking down with a hamstring injury.

Griffiths is expected to be out for the rest of the Division 1 season.

Knights coach Billy Livingstone was yesterday picking up the pieces for Wednesday night's catch-up game against North Star.

His 10-men outfit toiled hard in the second half at Bundamba but couldn't find the late goals needed to salvage a point or win.

“It wasn't the best of nights,” Livingstone said, ruing some uncharacteristic defensive mistakes from his team.

“Basically we were just trying to rush everything. They (Lions) got in our face and annoyed us.”

Freiberg was replaced by Travis Arnold after he received a red card for collecting a Lions player.

The Knights scored first when Griffiths converted a penalty.

However, Lions hit back quickly, making the Knights pay for sloppy defence.

Even with 10 men for 50 minutes, the Knights got back to 2-2 when Peter Hinks came on early in the second half for the injured Griffiths and scored. But Lions found a late goal to secure victory and keep their finals hopes alive.

“Last night, something was not there,” the Knights mentor said.

“We lost a little bit of momentum.

“Whether it was the pressure of the game, we were never really up for the game.”

However, Spirit co-coach Nev O'Sullivan was a far happier man yesterday after watching his team overpower Mitchelton 3-0 at Teralba Park on Saturday afternoon.

Spirit stopper Tim Cassey did a fine job keeping the competition's former leading goal scorer Esala Masinisau quiet.

Masinisa has been overtaken by Spirit's Phil Randal (24 goals) after his double against Mitchelton.

Luke Haydon scored Spirit's second goal from a superb free kick.

“It was a really dominant performance,” O'Sullivan said.

“They just stuck together. They played as a unit and everything they tried came off and they were patient.”

O'Sullivan said the team's only setback was losing player/co-coach Troy Wickstein for the next two games due to suspension.

“Troy's been holding them together in the midfield. He's going to be sorely missed,” O'Sullivan said.

“Hopefully, we can get to the grand final and give him a last game.”

In another pleasing result, Ipswich City Bulls turned it on in the second half to thump The Gap 6-0.

Scott Niemi scored his first hat-trick with strong games from Zygan Condie (two goals), captain Mark Fancourt and Grant Haviland.

“It was a bit of spirit . . . get ready for next year,” Bulls coach Trent Abel said of his team's second last game of the season.

“The first half was a real contest. Everyone played pretty well.”