NORTHERN Storm swept aside Coffs City United in a scintillating performance in the ANZAC Cup on Saturday 27 April in Korora.

The Storm set the tempo early, with sixteen-year-old Mark McCarthy igniting the scoreboard in the eleventh minute.

McCarthy intercepted a pass, skillfully bypassed the Lions’ defence, and delivered a pinpoint cross to Tom Hasall, who made no mistake with a clinical tap-in.

Maintaining relentless pressure, Jarred Kohler extended the lead in the 23rd minute with a well-taken goal, propelling the Storm to a comfortable 2-0 advantage heading into halftime.

In the second half, Mark McCarthy transitioned from provider to scorer as he notched up the third goal.

Jamie Kennedy and Adel Leyaghat then capped off a memorable day for Storm coach Eric McCarthy, adding two more goals to complete the emphatic 5-1 victory.

“The lads played their best game of the season so far, including FFA Cup, we were so close to full strength after having guys injured with pre-season niggles and away with other commitments,” McCarthy said.

“Last week was a great wake up call that this league will throw up plenty of tough games where you can’t be asleep and underprepared.

“With everyone available there is some serious competition for places in every position.

“You can only beat what’s in front of you and the lads did just that.”

It was a stellar performance by eighteen-year-old midfield talisman Campbell Brear who was awarded the Man of Match.

“I was glad it was the referees who had the unlucky task of picking the player for the ‘Chook Clerke’ Medal as I couldn’t pick it as so many of the lads performed so highly,” McCarthy said.

“Our attack finally woke up this week with three of them getting on the scoresheet after firing blanks for a few games, so their confidence will be up going into next week.”

Northern Storm coach Craig Caruana was pleased how the team bounced back after suffering a 4-1 defeat to Urunga the previous week.

“5-1 was a good indication of the game, which we thought we controlled from start to finish.

“With Tom Sweeney resting a hamstring we still had plenty of penetration up top and it was good to see a number of different goal scorers on the sheet.

“The return of (Campbell) Brear to the midfield, and Weeden, Clerke and Kohler to the defence gave us organisation and composure that we were missing last week.”

By David WIGLEY