The Big Kick Off

The new season kicked off yesterday, read on to find out how Predators got on in their opening fixture against Suns. Could the new boys cause a seemingly unlikely upset against the defending champions?                  

Predators - Suns

Predators kicked off the new Premiership season in style yesterday with a convincing 3-0 defeat of new-boys Suns.

Lining up with an attacking 3-3-1-3 formation, Predators looked to take the game to Suns early on and indeed the front trio of Grubb, Thackwray and Hjalmarsson did not disappoint. The Swede took advantage of some sloppy defensive play by the Suns keeper Kalle Smith in the 17th minute to play in Preds number 9 THACKWRAY who was left with the sort of chance that he could have put away in his sleep to give the home side the lead. A fantastic piece of counter attacking football saw the lead double in the 21st minute as Langford pulled off a world class save low to his left before playing a quick ball out toto Iedo. He found Reusser who sent a long ball forward which was knocked down by Da Cruz to Grubb who picked out THACKWRAY on the penalty spot who made no mistake from 12 yards.

Predators started the second half in much the same was they did the first, and they got their reward in the 48th minute when Reusser pressured the Suns defender Edwards into giving the ball away on the left side of the box before sending a dangerous cross-shot into the area. Keeper Smith was caught out as he started to go to his left to save as THACKWRAY nipped in front of his marker to poke the ball into the empty side of the net for his hattrick. Suns rarely troubled the defending champions as the rest of the game went without another goal being scored.

Predators : Langford, Iedo, Beringe, Jensen, Reusser (Thomas 60'), Colen, Andstrõm, Da Cruz (Karlsquell 60'), Grubb, Thackwray (Kostandinov 70'), Hjalmarsson

Goals : Thackwray (17',21',48')

Suns : Smith, Cancelada, Paul (Healy 67'), Edwards, Møller, Fenimore, Halmos, Ashworth (Hallgeirsson 68'), Lamb, Dehlwald (Adams 74'), Jensen

Goals :

Venue : The Coliseum

Attendance : 47187