MATCH OF THE ROUND
Umina 4 – 2 East Gosford
Round 12 match of the round saw two of the top teams go head-to-head as Umina were able to come out on top in this fixture after a very fast start from E-Gals.
A warm sunny day at Umina Oval saw an epic battle between two WPL giants in Umina and East Gosford. It was a completely different first couple of minutes to the game compared to their previous encounter just a few weeks ago. Last time, Umina went a player down early in the match. This time, Umina found themselves with a 2-goal advantage within the first five minutes. Hannah Batten got on the end of a defence-splitting through ball by Leisel Collins to grab their first. The second goal was a shot well outside of the box by Hayley Fulwood which double the E-Gals’ lead. East Gosford rallied and quickly started to assert themselves and began to dominate play whilst being cautious of Umina’s counter-attacking style of play. Kelly Hogan expertly finished off a combination play midway through the first half with a rocket of a shot just inside the box to get the Rams back in the match. The Rams looked to equalise to bring the score level heading into the break but failed to capitalise on their numerous chances.
Umina would once again be first on the scoresheet in the second half to restore their 2-goal lead after Kate Styles finished well on a tight angle. Taking a 3-1 lead, the game turned frantic, and a few heavy challenges were delivered. The Rams again pushed hard to get back in the game and Jess Fox picked the ball up off a short corner and delivered a wonderful strike over a packed penalty box and into the roof of the net. East Gosford were fired up as they chased the all-important equaliser. However, the game was put to bed by a huge free kick in front of the centre circle by Kirby Squires that beat everyone including the opposition goalkeeper to deliver her side the win and all three points.
Assistant coach Steve Szafranek stated you can’t gift teams like Umina an early lead and expect to walk away with points. “Umina was fired up from the start and we can’t give good teams two goals off the start. Nonetheless, our girls showed tremendous strength of character and dominated play for big parts of the game, but we just could not get the all-important goal to get us level. We will take a lot of positives from the match and look forward to our next fixture.”
Steve Donaldson was ecstatic with the win and hope his team can build off that for the remainder of the year. “Great turnaround from a much-needed bye round last week. We’ve had a fair few troubles on and off the field so hopefully, this is a turning point for our season and to get us back on track to what has been a difficult first half of the season.”
MATCH OFFICIAL – Jeffrey Smith
Killarney 1 – 0 Ourimbah
A Jesse Andrews goal was the only difference in Killarney’s round 12 clash with Ourimbah as Andrews steered her side to their first win in six games.
Ourimbah entered their encounter with Killarney looking to improve from their round 3 game against the Terriers. The contest from early on was very stop-start with both teams creating chances. Ourimbah maintained constant possession in the mid and final thirds to put continuous pressure on the opposition defence. The best chance of the first half would come after a cross saw Rosie Duffy unleash a great shot that just missed the Ourimbah goal as the score remained locked at 0-0 at the break.
The majority of the second half was a midfield battle with both teams once again creating plenty of scoring opportunities. Ourimbah’s constant pressure continued to frustrate the Killarney side throughout the second period. The deadlock was finally broken 25-minutes into the second half when an attack from Killarney saw Jessie Andrews pounced on a loose ball and score to put her side ahead. At this point in the game, the pendulum of possession moved away from the midfield as both teams played directly to the goal. In the final 10 minutes of the game, Ourimbah asserted pressure on the Killarney defence and goalkeeper. With multiple attempts on goal, the Killarney number 1 would pull off some fantastic saves to keep a clean sheet and carry her side to victory.
Despite the loss, Dave Hurley’s team put together one of their best performances of the season. “I believe our team played our best first half of the season to date. We could definitely see the improvement from our previous encounter with Killarney, however, we left a bit disappointed to not take any points from this game.”
“It was a much-needed win for our team today,” stated Killarney head coach Adam Tait.
MATCH OFFICIAL – Rodney Mcleod
Southern & Ettalong 5 – 1 Kanwal
Kanwal once again let a 1-goal lead slip and concede five unanswered goals to the Lionesses which saw Southern hold their spot in second place.
Southern came out of the blocks 100 miles per hour and instantly pinned Kanwal in their back third. Southern was awarded six or so corners in the opening 20 minutes but failed to capitalise on any of these chances. Kanwal was awarded a free kick in a dangerous area and up-stepped veteran Jennifer Tatum who found Megan Green in the box who headed the ball past the SEU keeper. Southern found themselves back in the game eight minutes later when they were awarded a penalty for a handball in the box. Golden Boot leader Emily Diaz buried the penalty to bring the game back on level terms. The next goal of the game came just moments before the break when Emily Diaz hit a rocket of a volley to give her side a 2-1 lead at halftime.
Conceding right on halt time looked to be a crucial blow that seemed to rock Kanwal going into the second half. Although the second half of the contest started fairly even, two quick goals in the space of 5 minutes saw the home team extend their lead. Once again it was Diaz who was on the scoresheet for her side, claiming four goals to her name. Tatum Ansiewicz also joined Diaz on the scoresheet as her goal put the game beyond reach.
Allan Bourke voiced him, and his side knew it was going to be a tough task heading into the fixture. “We travelled to SEU’s home ground knowing it would be difficult to steal the points, yet confident we could do it. The bustling home team just didn’t give us the chance to get into our normal rhythm and play our possession game.”
Marcus Warwick commends a tough Kanwal side who fought hard until the end. Kanwal never gave up, but we did exactly what we train to do, and if we perform to this standard every week, we will be an extremely hard team to beat. Very proud of my girls today and looking forward to Wyong next week.”
MATCH OFFICIAL – Graeme Gurr
Wyong 0 – 4 Woy Woy
Wyong was unable to field a side due to sickness and injury which saw The Emu’s forced to forfeit and hand Woy Woy all three points that saw them jump back on top of the WPL ladder.
Golden Boot Standings –
| 20 | Emily Diaz (Southern) |
| 14 | Candice Phelan (Terrigal) |
| 10 | Laura Mundy (Woy Woy) |
| 9 | Yasemin Lawson (East Gosford) |
Points Table –
Club Championship –
