Woy Woy 0 – 5 Avoca
Our match of the round this time came in Women’s Division One and saw Woy Woy host Avoca on a sunny Austin Butler Oval.
It was a clash between two sides looking to grab their second win of the season, but Avoca prevailed, scoring a handful of highlight-worthy goals in the process.
For the most part, the first half of this game was played entirely on one side of the ground, with Woy Woy attacking down their left and Avoca attacking down their right.
Initially, this made for a tight affair, with neither side able to take control, but soon enough, a chance would come for Avoca that would go on to define the game.
Avoca’s Kristen Henshaw won the ball in midfield and pushed forward into some space before realising Woy Woy keeper Dawn Butler was slightly out of position and needed to run back to her line.
Henshaw shot the moment she noticed this, and Butler just barely managed to scramble back and make the save. However, Woy Woy’s luck on this front would not hold.
Not long later, Henshaw would again gain possession in midfield, this time running onto a loose ball and winning a contest against Woy Woy centre-back Emma Burdack.
With the ball at her feet in space, Henshaw looked up to see Butler standing off her line again. This time, without taking a step forward and halfway into her attacking half, Henshaw put in a picture-perfect chip shot over Butler’s head and into the net to make it 1-0 for the Sharks.
This started an Avoca dominance that lasted for the rest of the match. Suddenly, they looked like a well-oiled machine that struck on every loose ball and every Woy Woy hesitation.
Woy Woy’s biggest struggle was not being able to transition to attack. Their backline pairing of Burdack and Sarah Hogg put in a lot of effort and won the ball back a lot for their side, but the Roosters would almost always lose it again not long after because they couldn’t find an advancing pass.
As such, it wasn’t long before Avoca pounced to double their lead when Ella Cutcliffe found her striker Gabi Ajala with a neat pass just before the box to the left. She would go on to put in an emphatic strike across the goal and into the top right of the net, leaving Butler with no chance as it became 2-0.
Woy Woy now desperately needed to find something, but they continued to break down going forward, with their strikers Gabrielle Slevin and Tasha Lindahl looking very isolated up top as the Roosters tried to play out the back.
So soon, it was 3-0, this time through a freekick from deep, just inside the Avoca attacking half, that nobody from either side could fully control.
This saw the ball cleared directly up into the air to be ultimately met by Avoca’s Hayley Routledge, who simply and smartly threw her foot out as the ball returned and sent it straight into the back of the net before the Woy Woy defence could close her down.
Now, at 3-0, it really felt like Woy Woy needed a moment of brilliance to get back in the contest, and they nearly found it not long before halftime.
On their left, Woy Woy’s Jessica Wust played a slick ball down the sideline to Slevin, who beat her defender to get into the box. Once there, she pushed on to the byline and attempted a sly shot at the near post, but it just struck the woodwork, and the ball was out for a goal kick.
All that remained in the half were more chances for the Sharks, mainly through the work of Henshaw, who was dominating the midfield, and Ajala, who constantly caused problems for the Woy Woy backline. However, none were converted, and the opening period ended 3-0.
The second half began with an evident change of intent for the Roosters, with the clearest alteration being Slevin’s move to right back in favour of moving Abigale Muspratt forward as their second striker.
It was a move that early on looked to be paying dividends. Woy Woy looked much more streamlined, and they didn’t sit quite as deep as they did in the first half, when only their forwards ventured into the opposing half.
It looked like Woy Woy would strike one back early too, when a corner put in by Burdack bounced around the box, but the Avoca defence scrambled well and eventually cleared before the attackers were able to get a clean strike on it.
But despite their renewed efforts and intent, Avoca remained just as ambitious and clinical and they scored a fourth goal just under 10 minutes into the second half, and it was another spectacular shot.
Avoca’s Shanay Quester found herself on the ball wide left with absolutely no one around her, so she did exactly as Henshaw did and had a go.
The result was another perfectly weighted chip shot that Butler just couldn’t get to as it sailed into the net in demoralising fashion for Woy Woy, who had just started to click before the shot was put in. Regardless, it was now 4-0.
It looked like that was that, but there were one or two more slight twists left to come, twists that showed the heart of both teams.
Around 20 minutes into the second half, both teams went down to 10 players when they ran out of substitutes and had women off with injuries.
Eventually, Muspratt bravely rejoined the game for Woy Woy despite her clear exhaustion, but Avoca continued to soldier on with 10 for the rest of the match showing great resilience in the process.
As a result, Woy Woy did everything they could to capitalise on the advantage, and it came primarily through the solid work of Wust, who began consistently finding her forwards with good passes, something the Roosters had issues with all game.
Some interplayed passes between Wust and Burdack down the left almost saw Lindahl put through one-on-one with Jemima Moore in the Avoca goal, but she was just called offside, and the chance was gone.
Avoca were being stretched with their player disadvantage, but that didn’t stop them from finding a cherry on top. It came as another goal from outside the box, saving what was the best of the lot for last.
Routledge was running the ball down the right wing, and instead of putting in the early cross, she took on her marker, Kelly Maiden, and got past her before putting in a ball up over Butler once again and straight down onto the bottom of the far post then across the line for 5-0.
It was a third stunning goal that showcased the flair of this Avoca side, which played so strongly down to 10. Their effort stayed strong to the final whistle, and they got a well-earned second victory of the season.
Speaking to the coaches, Avoca’s Mark Beatson was happy about his team’s efforts in shutting down Woy Woy and reminding competitors that they are a goal threat.
“From our point of view, we talked at we’ve been talking at training about having a bit of a reset,” Beatson said.
“Woy Woy are very good from thirty meters out, so we knew we had to keep that down which we did, and we managed to score nearly all our goals from outside the box”.
While Woy Woy’s Stephen Troilo reflected on being down on numbers and the unlucky nature of being punished for every little mistake with a goal.
“It was probably a summary of our season so far” Troilo began.
“We’ve got a lot of players missing at the moment, we’re under strength every week which shows in our performances, and on the back of that we’re getting punished for every mistake we make with a goal.
“Credit to Avoca they took their chances, for us it was just one of those days that we’ve had a few of this season where it’s not really going our way”.
Match Official – Janakan Seemampillai
Written by Mark Goodyear
Women’s Division 1 Results –
Men’s Division 1 Results –
