By Liam Emerton
Despite being down 3-2 and having their keeper sent off late in the second half, the Southside United Hawks pulled off a miraculous win on Saturday.
The Hawks took on the Capricorn Coast Eagles at Apex Park in a clash filled with plenty of fire.
Luke Dollar got the Eagles off the mark when he scored in the opening three minutes.
Steven Roser would get the Hawks back on level terms when his strike found the back of the net half-an-hour later.
From there three yellow cards were the main highlights of the half before it ended level at 1-1.
However an early second-half penalty saw Roser score his and Southside’s second of the contest, taking them to a 2-1 lead.
In another twist on a crazy game fresh faced Eagle, Flynn Stephenson would make an immediate impact for his new club when he equalised for the home side to make it 2-2 in the 58th minute.
But the biggest turn was yet to come as Hawks’ goalkeeper Ty Allsop was handed his marching orders in the 69th minute for deliberately handling the ball outside of his area.
That would almost immediately lead to another Dollar goal in the 71st minute.
Now leading 3-2 and a man up on their opposition, the Eagles just needed to hang on for the remaining 19 minutes.
But it wouldn’t work out that simple for the Cap Coast squad.
Sam Boldeman would level the scores in the 85th minute with a thunderbolt of a goal before Roser would complete his hattrick with a 90th minute winner, stealing the win from the Eagles in the most dramatic fashion.
And that win has sent the Hawks flying into the top four with the side having no plans on turning back.
This weekend they put their new found form to the test when they take on the Berserker Bears.
The Bears have had a week off and their last game came as a 3-0 loss to Frenchville but they’ve certainly been building this season which means Southside can’t afford to take them lightly.
The reason that United were able to leapfrog the Nerimbera Magpies into the top four was because the side were knocked off 6-0 by Clinton FC.
The Magpies will have a chance to soar back to winning ways when they match up against the luckless Capricorn Coast in Yeppoon this weekend.
The Eagles are now nine competition points outside the top four and are in desperate need of a winning streak.
With Nerimbera looking to keep pace with Southside they’ll want a big win on Saturday and cannot afford to slip if they want to keep hunting that finals position.
And in the final round 11 match the Frenchville Roos look to cause more damage when they come up against old rivals Bluebirds United.
Last time out United were hammered by 20-plus goals but they have since secured their first point of the season.
The Roos remain undefeated and at the apex of the FQPL-3 pyramid.
In the women’s competition, the Nerimbera Magpies travel to Gladstone to take on the Central FC ladies in the match of the round.
Clinton FC and the Capricorn Coast sides also collide mid-week at Clinton Park.
While the Bluebirds United hunt the Frenchville Roos women’s team on Saturday.