Force coach makes shock appearance | Ipswich Sport | Local Sports in Ipswich

BRISBANE Force co-coach, Kevin Meacock swapped his coaching attire for a playing strip on Saturday night to inspire the Richlands-based club to its first victory of the 2010 Brisbane Premier Division 1 competition.

At 46 years age, Meacock played alongside some team-mates almost a third his age.

But his fellow head coach, John Ogden believed Meacock’s experience was the key component in the Force’s 3-0 victory over the newly-promoted Ipswich City Bulls at C J Greenfield Reserve.

“He’s in remarkably good shape, running well, moving well and he was a big difference for us when he came on after 20 minutes,” Ogden said of Meacock.

“We have a spread of 16-year-olds throughout the team, but to just add that experience was benefited the young ones.

“You need that experience around them and having that around the park is what we’ve been missing this year.”

Roger Hunter got the scoring underway with his strike midway through the first half giving the Force a one goal advantage at half-time.

The Bulls looked dangerous going forward, but Australian under-17 goalkeeper, Matt Tubbs, who was on debut for the Force, denied the visitors several times with some important saves.

Force striker, Isaac Harrison (pictured) had an instant impact off the bench finishing off some good lead-up play through the midfield to put the home side up 2-0 at about the 70th minute.

He made it a double 10 minutes later to seal the win and in the process restore confidence back at the club.

“It was important we got the three points for this club and everybody,” Ogden said.

“We know what we’ve got to work with. We knew we weren’t going to start the year off at a million miles an hour.

“The players need to get use to the pace of the game and weren’t ready to go at the start (of the season) but the positive is we keep improving.”