United's Miebaka Dede moves in on QUT's Lyndon Evans. 

United's Jacob Jennison beats outstretched QUT tackler Amos Tham. 

QUT's Ashley Burns and United rival Shane Cowling battle for the ball. 

Rohan Butterworth takes evasive action as United midfielder Kula Bhullar passes to Todd
Curran.

BRISBANE HOCKEY LEAGUE - ROUND 2

Redcliffe Leagues 2 (Shane Kenny, Ian Schulz) defeated University of Queensland 0 at Mary Nairn Fields, Redcliffe.

Redcliffe Leagues heads into the Easter break on top of the ladder after being forced to win the hard way in a tough slog against University.  University, who had won two of its previous five encounters against the men from the peninsula, had more genuine scoring chances than their hosts in the first half, with Hamish Baron and Nick Poon sending tomahawk shots wayward.  With Redcliffe Leagues dominating field position in an often tense encounter, University’s defensive unit worked overtime with Damien Queisser saving a shot off the line and goalkeeper Adam Dinsdale denying two penalty corner shots of halftime.  Quiesser saved another shot off the line, this time a flick after James McAlpine’s penalty corner shot hit the post.  The match went scoreless until the 45th minute, when Shane Kenny sent a time shot past Dinsdale after being given too much space in the circle.  With 15 minutes left the students had a golden attacking chance, but Redcliffe Leagues fullback Ashley Zanetti diffused a dangerous two-on-one threat posed by Greg Collins and Mark Beaumont, before Ian Schulz scored from the final play of the game.

- Lee Oliver

Commercial 8 (Chris Beale 2, Wayne Barry 2, Ian Baker, Daniel Biase-McInally, Paul Nichols, Daniel Beale) defeated Easts 3 (Brad Mathers 2, Todd Watson) at the State Hockey Centre, Colmslie.

After walking away with a draw the previous week against Bulimba, Commercial came out with all guns blazing in their grand final rematch with Easts.  Both sides were depleted due to Australian Hockey League commitments but the defending champions looked to have a better depth of players.  A Chris Beale drag flick from a penalty corner in the second minute started a spectacular string of goals for the Cobras, who found the back of the net three more times in the first 10 minutes.  Great teamwork just before halftime saw centre half Wayne Barry take Commercial to a 5-0 lead heading into the break.  The second half saw Beale and Barry secure their doubles with Paul Nichols also sending a speedy tomahawk past young Easts goalkeeper Nick Edds.  The Tigers tried to make a comeback late in the second half with the help of goals from Brad Mathers and Todd Watson.  Queensland defender Peter Morris also made a big difference to the Easts side when he came into the game just after halftime.  Late yellow cards to Cobras players gave the Tigers hope, but they left their run too late, slumping to their worst defeat since losing 7-2 to Commercial in the 2004 President’s Cup final.

- Rebecca Kirchner

Labrador 7 (Grant Smith 2, Nicholas Heyns 2, Andrew Ward, Craig Bigham, Mark Harris) defeated Valley 0 at Keith Hunt Park, Labrador.

Labrador could not have been happier with their commanding performance at Keith Hunt Park, securing an impressive seven goal thrashing of Valley.  The visitors showed no real signs of repeating their come from behind win against QUT the previous week as Labrador instinctively read the play, was impressive in defence and scored a myriad goals to the delight of the home crowd.  Tigerstix ace Grant Smith was an immediate standout scoring the first of two impressive goals in the first three minutes of the game.  The Tigerstix came out firing after the break scoring five goals, with Valley dumbfounded to what was happening before them.  Down 4-0 Valley’s only real opportunity to score saw a goal disallowed when advantage was not paid in a controversial decision.  Labrador continued their dominance with three more goals scored in the final six minutes.  Valley goalkeeper David Watts welcomed the final siren as last year’s preliminary finalists celebrated their first win for the season.  Teams should fear Labrador and their Gold Coast fortress if the match is any example of what the Tigerstix are capable of at home.

- Susie Hillard

United 7 (Adam McClelland 2, Ash Randall, Matt Freeman, Belema Dede, Ryan Schulte, Miebaka Dede) defeated QUT 1 (Brenton Smalley) at Mary Nairn Fields, Redcliffe.

Two sudden scoring bursts in the first half helped an energetic United side equal their biggest win the Brisbane Hockey League with a six goal romp over QUT.  United established a handy two goal lead after a quarter of an hour when Adam McClelland and Ash Randall scored within one minute of each other.  With their midfield decidedly quicker and more composed than QUT’s, United turned their two goal break into an unassailable five goal margin approaching halftime.  United found the net three times in two minutes around the half hour mark - through Matt Freeman, McClelland and a great solo effort from Belema Dede - to seal their win before halftime.  Led by Ashley Burns, Amos Tham and Alex Krzensk, QUT offered more resistance in the second half and were rewarded with a goal to Brenton Smalley after 49 minutes, following good lead-up work by Lyndon Evans and Mark Masefield.  United’s Miebaka Dede was rewarded for a fine game when he scored with seven minutes left, putting an exclamation point on his team’s biggest win since its 8-2 win against QUT in 2007.

- Lee Oliver

Pine Rivers St Andrews-Norths 3 (Craig Smith, Jared Campbell, Brent Garske) defeated Bulimba 1 (Luke Paine) at the State Hockey Centre, Colmslie.

Pine Rivers St Andrews-Norths registered the first victory of their 2009 campaign by downing Bulimba 3-1.  With both sides desperate to earn early season points whilst their opposition missed key personnel to national league duties, Saints raced out of the blocks courtesy of a penalty corner strike from Craig Smith.  Bulimba then began working themselves into the match, and it took an excellent save from Saints goalkeeper Chris Dick to deny Bulls fullback Luke Paine an equaliser.  However the final ten minutes of the first half was all Saints, with the Brendale-based club managing two goals in two minutes to crush the Bulls’ hopes.  First it was Brent Garske flicking in for his third goal in two games, before Jared Campbell stole the ball off the fullback and calmly beat the keeper.  Bulimba began the second half determined to erase the deficit, although with fatigue setting in amid the stifling conditions goals were proving hard to come by.  Paine eventually got a goal after earlier being denied by the post, but Saints held on to record consecutive victories over the south side club.

- Nick Bolton

POINTS:

Redcliffe Leagues 6, Labrador 4, Commercial 4, Pine Rivers St Andrews-Norths 4, United 3, University of Queensland 3, Valley 3, Bulimba 1, Easts 0, QUT 0.

LEADING GOAL SCORERS:

5  -  Chris Beale (Commercial)
4  -  Shane Kenny (Redcliffe Leagues)
3  -  Wayne Barry (Commercial)
    -  Brent Garske (Pine Rivers St Andrews-Norths)
    -  Grant Smith (Labrador)
2  -  Shane Cowling (United)
    -  Chris Gilmore (Labrador)
    -  Nicholas Heyns (Labrador)
    -  Brad Mathers (Easts)
    -  Adam McClelland (United)
    -  Luke Paine (Bulimba)
    -  Ash Randall (United)
    -  Craig Smith (Pine Rivers St Andrews-Norths) 

Ian Schulz about to send a pass to set up a Redcliffe Leagues attack. 

University goalkeeper Adam Dinsdale stretches as Redcliffe Leagues' Trent Kreis
arrives too late.

Redcliffe Leagues' Nick Budd skips of out a tackle from University's Hamish Baron. 

Redcliffe Leagues' Shane Kenny arrives too late to stop University's David James
getting a pass away.

Compiled by Lee Oliver.