Doyalson 3 – 4 Gosford
The match of the round to close out the regular season of Women’s Division One was a thriller on Doyalson RSL Oval. The contest was set such that if the hosts, The Doyalson-Wyee Wolves, managed to beat the visitors, The Gosford Dragons, they would lock themselves into the finals; however, a draw or a loss would see Woy Woy take their place, after Southern decided to forfeit against them.
It was a spectacular back-and-forth match played in hot conditions in which both teams battled until the end. However, heartbreakingly for the home fans, Doyalson fell just short of pulling off a miraculous comeback, leaving Gosford to emerge victorious.
To begin the game, the Wolves looked to take the ascendancy and almost pinched an early opener with some great interplay among their forwards.
The chance came when Heidi Smidt came in from her wing and played a ball to Tamzyn Fittler with her back to the Gosford defensive line. Fittler’s hold-up was excellent, and it allowed Smidt to run into the box where Fittler found her with a pass in open space, but her shot went just wide.
This was a warning shot from the hosts, and one the visitors quickly responded to by sending their own onslaught down the other end, where they opened the scoring.
The Dragons netted the first of the afternoon on the back of their high press. First, Gosford’sGabby Spresser so nearly latched onto a loose pass, forcing Doyalson to try and clean up, and as they did, the ball ended up out wide to their left, where the Dragon’s right winger Belle Stammers was waiting.
Stammers, who scored four goals past the Wolves earlier this season, rapidly took possession of the ball and was instantly through on goal, where she made no mistake. Stammers slid the ball into the far corner and left Doyalson keeper Ashely Sweetnam with no chance to make a save, making it 1-0.
The game would then begin to slip away from Doyalson, and what came next made their chances of getting a result look dire. Only minutes later, Stammers was at it again, this time running onto a ball from Abigail Clark that got her onto the edge of the box.
From here, Stammers drove again into the box, where Sweetnam rushed to meet her. However, despite her efforts, Stammers would get her second goal in a matter of minutes. Her shot went under the keeper before she could get low enough, ultimately rolling into the net for 2-0.
Suddenly, after a bright start, Doyalson’s season seemed to be ending, but this was only the beginning of the rollercoaster.
The game became tighter now as both sides traded chances. Hannah Moreau thrashed a ball into the crossbar from the edge of the box for Doyalson, and Stammers so nearly got one past Sweetnam again, but this time the Wolves keeper collected the ball from her feet.
It was a frustrating spell for the Wolves, knowing they had to play more expansively to get back into the game, yet facing a team that could turn defence into attack in a split second. But eventually, their goal would come.
The hosts got themselves back into the contest when Gosford keeper Jessica Lee rushed out to the edge of the box to collect a wayward pass from Doyalson, only Lee overran the ball and fumbled it with her hands, seeing it go between her legs. Now, with no one there to clean it up, Doyalson striker Jade Goddard, alert to what had happened, continued her run through and tapped the ball home to make it 2-1.
Each team continued to create chances, but nothing overly troubled either keeper and the game went into halftime 2-1 in favour of the visitors.
When the game resumed, Doyalson almost immediately tied things up when a long ball from Wolves’ centre-back Tru Parker caused the Gosford backline trouble.
The pass soared over the top of the Dragon’s defence to the feet of Levi Cameron, who took the ball just as she entered the final third and battled her retreating defender into the box.
Once there, she shot from just left of goal, but Lee was up to it, making a confident save at her near post and keeping her side in the lead.
After this, things began to click across the park for Doyalson, and with their next chance, they would make no mistake.
The score was tied when some nice work down the right wing for Doyalson saw a ball played into Veronic Stewart’s feet to the right of goal in the box.
There, Stewart pinpointed her shot to the near post where Lee couldn’t get to it, and suddenly, they were well and truly back in it, overcoming the 2-0 deficit to tie it all up at 2-2.
As the Doyalson locals rejoiced, Gosford would not miss a beat. Refusing to allow themselves to be overrun, they would take the lead back with a penalty.
The call to award the penalty was tight. It came when a Doyalson defender lunged towards a Gosford attacker as she held the ball up in the box; the ref was right there to see it, though and pointed straight to the spot.
Clark stepped up to take it for the Dragons, and her shot was saved brilliantly by Sweetnam, but the ball remained in the box from her parry, where Georgia Muspratt got to it first, shooting straight away to make it 3-2 in favour of the women in red.
Still with plenty of time to go, Doyalson now needed to push for a second comeback and push they did, showing all the grit and heart I’ve seen from them throughout the season as they faced adversity.
The loudest cheer of the day came when the score became 3-3, and it was a great goal that tied things up again.
After putting in a series of dangerous corners throughout the game, Destiny Schuck stepped up again for the Wolves from the left side to put the ball in. Schuck’s cross was the best of the day, and it cut above all the defenders at the near post into an awkward corridor for Lee, where she’d have to battle it out with defenders to catch the ball right on her line.
It looked like every Doyalson player rose in unison to attack the ball, and a pack of about three players all got near it for the home side.
Whether it was Centre-back Paige Hill or one of the other Wolves who got their head on it, the game was suddenly 3-3 as the ball crossed the line, and the oval erupted in cheers.
At this moment, it felt like Gosford would need everything they had left to win the game. They were focusing mainly on counterattacks now, and their forward press had mostly evaporated; it felt like if there was to be another goal, it would be Doyalson’s.
And it so nearly was. As Doyalson peppered long balls forward, substitute Caitlin Pigott found herself running onto a ball in the box only to be stopped by an inch-perfect slide tackle from Gosford’s Rhiannon Hall, which sent the ball out, killing the chance.
Still needing a goal with around 20 minutes to go, Doyalson refused to play slowly and threw everything forward, and on one Gosford counter punch, disaster struck.
Hill, looking to prevent a Gosford chance, was tracking back from the high Doyalson line, and as she got back, she blocked the run of Gosford’s Brooke Souter in the box, causing her to go down, and once again, the ref pointed to the spot.
Stammers stepped up this time and completed her hat-trick with a confident strike into the bottom right, sending her team back into the lead.
And that would be that. Doyalson would try valiantly, but nothing would fall their way as a relentless Gosford outfit held on to be 4-3 winners, moving them out of last place and just missing out on the finals themselves.
Talking to Doyalson coach Ryan Tanti, he noted his team’s monumental efforts in the game and all season and reflected on the tough loss.
“I thought my girls showed a lot of heart and tenacity. I couldn’t be prouder of their efforts today and all season, definitely didn’t deserve to lose like that,” Tanti began.
“But congrats to Dale and his girls from Gosford today, well done. It was a great game.
“Good luck to those teams in the finals. The Women’s Division One competition has thrived this year and can’t wait to go again next season”.
While the Gosford coach, Dale Reeson reflected on how his defence stood up let to secure a gutsy victory.
“I believe it was a competitive encounter in which both teams had to dig deep due to the conditions” Reeson said.
“I thought we started well and were in control of the game until a couple of costly errors allowed them to get back into it
“Doyalson played well and continued to attack, but I thought our defence held firm in the second half to secure the victory”
“Unfortunately, the “outcome” of another game meant our victory was in vain, but credit to the team for continuing to battle for the result.”
Match Official – Corey Wright
Written by Mark Goodyear
Women’s Division 1 Results –
Men’s Division 1 Results –
