Match of the Round
East Gosford 10 – 0 Southern & Ettalong
East Gosford entered their match of the round fixture coming off their third game in seven games whilst their opposition, Southern & Ettalong were well rested, coming off a bye in the previous round.
From the onset of the match, Southern were playing a high defensive line with the hopes of trying to catch the East Gosford attackers offside which paid dividends as Rams attacker Taylor Thackray thought she scored after just two minutes of play, only to be ruled offside by the official.
However, it didn’t take long for East Gosford to find space in behind the opposition defence once again as Kayla Vanderfield made no mistake of her opportunity to score the game’s first goal.
Looking to inflict further damage, East Gosford remained patient keeping possession of the ball and looking to find space in behind the Lionesses backline.
Kayla Vanderfield once again found herself one-on-one with the goalkeeper as she found the back of the net for a second time, doubling East Gosford’s lead to 2-0.
In the 35th minute, it was Tahlor Thackray’s turn as she find herself face-to-face with the Southern keeper and a sneaky lob secured East Gosford’s third goal of the evening.
Moments before halftime, Tahlor Thackray got her second of the half and was able to put the Rams 4-0 up heading into the break.
Halftime saw East Gosford coach Jorge Chavez make some slight changes in the hopes of dealing with the opposition’s high defensive line to give his side even more chances going forward in the second period.
These changes paid off instantly as Kayla Vanderfield was able to score two goals inside the first four minutes of the second half.
East Gosford extended their lead to seven in the 55th minute after they were awarded a penalty, Madelene Yates stepped up for the Rams and calmly finished for her first goal of the year.
To Southern & Ettalong’s credit, they continued to push and almost instantly replied with a goal of their own in the 56th minute, only for their effort on goal to be denied by the post.
Another goal each in the 70th and 73rd minute to Kayla and Tahlor saw them take the scoreline to 9-0 before they were both substituted off.
With the last kick of the game, Kimberley Meyer managed to score East Gosford’s tenth goal of the day to mark their second win of the year.
After the game, East Gosford’s coach was pleased with how his team played, especially coming off two games in the previous seven days. “I’m pleased with the result but more importantly the style of football we are playing and the chances we are creating.”
“Full credit to Southern & Ettalong as they had multiple players backing up from Reserve Grade, we have been there before and it’s not an easy job to do. Keep your heads up, I’m sure you will improve as the year goes on, trust each other and the process.”
Cait Walker from Southern stated post-game that despite the scoreline, she believes her squad is not far off the top teams in the WPL competition.
“What can you say East Gosford dominated the game from the start, they played a structured game, that they used overlapping play and feeding balls through corridors extremely well. The scoreline might look as though we are far behind the top teams, but the season is long and don’t just look at our scoreline this week.”
Match Official – Massimo Lucini
Kanwal 3 – 1 Umina
Umina made the long trek north this past Sunday looking for their first win of the season whilst the home side Kanwal was looking to bounce back from a defeat in the previous week.
The game was barely three minutes old when Kanwal’s Grace Heinemann latched onto a poor pass from the Umina defence and slid the ball past the oncoming keeper to give the Bulls an early lead and the perfect start.
That would remain the score until more forward pressure from the home side resulted in another Umina defence error that Grace again benefited from to double Kanwal’s lead to 2-0 with a clever finish.
Reigning league champions and premiers Umina fought hard to get one back before halftime, but the Kanwal defence stood solid to keep the score locked at 2-0 after the opening 45 minutes of action.
The E-Gals came out with a newfound determination and were the better of the two teams at the start of the second period as Kanwal looked to try and defend the lead which allowed the opposition more success going forward.
A long ball over the top of the Kanwal defence was latched into by Umina’s Hannah Batten who superbly lobbed the oncoming keeper to make it 2-1.
The next goal would prove to be so crucial as both sides created chances but couldn’t find the finishing touch.
Eventually, it would be Kanwal who got that decisive goal when Hayls Ballard was played through by Hayley Green as Hayls made no mistake in finding the bottom left corner to reinstate her side’s two-goal lead.
A resilient Umina tried their hardest to salvage anything from the fixture, but it would be Kanwal’s day as they held on for the remainder of the game for a much-deserved victory.
Kanwal’s Ben Raychaudhuri had nothing but praise for the opposition post-match. “Credit to Umina who were without several players today. They didn’t let that stop them having a crack and they definitely made us work hard for the win.”
Ben also complimented his squad and how well they responded to last weekend’s loss. “Super effort from the Kanwal girls today. We needed to bounce back from last week and we did that extremely well.”
Match Official – Seaton Wilson
Terrigal 4 – 0 Killarney
Terrigal met a defensively well-drilled Killarney side on a sunny Sunday afternoon at Duffy’s Oval this past weekend.
Killarney displayed a disciplined approach to their defensive set-up, playing with a well-organised and high line that proved to be difficult for Terrigal and their usual style of play.
Terrigal however caused early problems for Killarney and managed to break down the Terriers’ defensive line in varied ways.
After 11 minutes, an individual attack from striker Gabrielle Blanch saw her beat her defender and fire home for the first goal of the match.
After taking a 1-0 lead, Terrigal settled into the game and continued to fire shots that were met time and time again by Killarney’s outstanding shot-stopper, Abbey Omayao.
Following a number of close calls from Terrigal’s growing corner count, in the 23rd minute a ball popped out of a penalty box scrap, falling at the feet of Gabrielle who fired home for her second of the day and extended the home side’s lead to 2-0.
Terrigal continued to dominate possession and kept goalkeeper Abbey Omayao extremely busy, who managed to pull off some top-shelf saves throughout the onslaught.
Killarney’s defensive line remained persistent in winning the ball back and trying to play out through the lines, though Terrigal’s defence were on the top of their game and continued to clean up and provide plenty of opportunities when going forward.
Terrigal yet again in the 31st minute managed to build up centrally, with the attacking presence of Gabrielle Blanch providing a well-timed through ball, falling in front of the feet of teammate Candice Phelan who successfully fired low for Terrigal’s third goal of the day.
As the two teams entered the second period, the second half of action saw a number of changes for both teams due to injury. Killarney settled into more ball possession and played well through the midfield third.
Terrigal’s defence continued to dominate Killarney’s attacking chances, creating opportunities for the O’lasses front line. Once again it was the reliable Abbey Omayao who continued to keep Killarney to zero second-half goals for a sustained period.
The second-half deadlock was eventually broken. Following a dominant win in her midfield battle, Caitlin McMahon weaved a through ball in behind Killarney’s defence, and substitute Kate Gilbert used her pace to lose her defender and fired home from the left to make it four for the home side.
“Very proud of the Killarney girls for not giving up. Terrigal are certainly the top team with the amount of quality players they have,” stated Killarney’s Adam Tait.
Terrigal’s coach and goal scorer Gabrielle Blanch had nothing but high praise for the opposition. “Huge respect to Killarney for a great game today. They very clearly came out with a plan, and it was obvious from the get-go and proved at times challenging for our girls to break down. Killarney have great potential for results this year, they have a mix of some experienced, quality players, as well as some young guns. In particular, the goalkeeper for Killarney Vale was outstanding today. I believe they will do well and have huge scope for improvement as the season progresses.”
“For my girls, we too went out with a plan, which was to ensure we continued to progress in our improvement of a new playing style, and I believe we achieved this today. I have set the girls a huge task this season, to try something different, to trust that we have the players to get it right, and week after week we are delivering on that. We are lucky to have great depth in our squad, we have a lot of players challenging for first-grade selection and this is providing us with a higher quality of performance each week. I am thrilled with yet another six-point Sunday for our squad, with our reserve grade team also displaying a very dominant win today.”
Match Official – Wayne Young
Golden Boot Standing –
| 5 | Taylor Thackray (East Gosford), Kayla Vanderfield (East Gosford) |
| 4 | Candice Phelan (Terrigal) |
| 3 | Bree Josling (Kincumber), Gabrielle Blanch (Terrigal) |
Points Table –
Club Championship –
