Women’s Final
Southern & Ettalong 3 – 3 Avoca
Southern & Ettalong won 4-2 on Penalties
The penultimate game of the Women’s Division One season was the first of two brilliantly thrilling Division One semi-finals to take place on Sunday on the main field at Pluim Park.
Battling for a spot in the final were a Southern Ettalong Lions team that lost to The Entrance last weekend 4-0 in the major semi-final and the Avoca Sharks team that bested Woy Woy in the minor semi-final 2-0 to earn their way this far.
It was an instant classic of a match that ended all tied after the regulation 90 minutes. This led to extra time and ultimately, penalties, where Southern emerged victorious in football’s most heart-wrenching and rousing method of victory.
The first half of the match was very different from everything else to come. You could tell both teams were looking to settle into a pace and a game plan, and perhaps that just took longer for both of them than they anticipated.
As a result, the opening stages were very stop-and-start, with the ball repeatedly going out over the sideline as Avoca looked to attack down the right flank, and Southern defended wide to stop them.
So, Southern would mainly look to counter-attack in these opening minutes as the Sharks were building the more sustained pressure, but when the Lions had their chances, there was one constant thorn in their side.
For 120 minutes, Ella Cutcliffe followed the ball everywhere it went on the field, constantly disrupting Southern attacks before they could adequately develop.
She was so tenacious in her running that it wasn’t a surprise to see her pop up anywhere on the field at any given moment for the Sharks, and in the opening half, she was very busy.
But as the half reached its midway point, chances began to fall, and the first one fell the way of Southern.
Finally able to evade Cutcliffe’s unending hassling, the Lions got a ball into the area, where they found their left winger Brooke Hardie centrally just outside the 6-yard box.
Hardie controlled the ball just enough to get a shot off, but it only went as far as Belinda Dalton in goals for Avoca, who made a comfortable save. Dalton, who played out front for the Sharks last week, was only in goals because the regular keeper Jemima Moore was out with a broken arm, and considering that, she had a strong game.
Avoca would then chance their arm forwards through Gabi Ajala, who produced a spectacular flurry down the left wing, taking on Southern’s Lora Bollom and managing to kick the ball around her, slip over, get back up and win the ball down the field. However, the cross into the box at the end of it would go awry, and the chance would fade.
This began a great duel between Ajala and Bollom. Not long after, Bollom got her own back, producing an excellent lunge tackle to prevent Ajala from breaking away down the left again, and the two continued to duel throughout.
Now getting to the back end of the half, Southern would begin to take the ascendancy, and they had one last notable chance to open the scoring as time dwindled.
The chance came in the form of a long shot from attacking midfielder Letisha McCormack, who took the ball into the final third for the Lions and, just as she did, sent in a high and swirling shot that dipped towards goal.
It sent Dalton right back to her goal line, where she barely managed to tip onto the bar before collecting it to end the chance.
That would send the game into halftime deadlocked at 0-0. It was a tactical affair in which neither team managed to create many high-quality chances, but the second half would be dramatically different.
Where the second half was cold and calculated, the second was open and fast, and it all began with the arrival of a game-changer off the bench in Avoca’s Olivia de Ville.
Almost from the resumption, de Ville began to make a difference when Ajala pushed the ball down the left before playing up to de Vill going into the box to her right. The pass pulled her wide and forced her to shoot early, sending the ball right of the goal. But this was only a warning shot, and the best was yet to come from both teams.
Now that Avoca was playing with much more intent, Southern was almost stunned by the pace of their opponents, and it took them a moment to react.
During this period, Emily Trengrove for the Lions did a lot of last-ditch defending, acting in a sweeper role, defending deep and ensuring someone was always there if the pace of Avoca broke through, but despite her solid work, the opener would come for the Sharks.
The first of the afternoon came from a Zoe Milne corner taken from the right. Milne sent the ball into a dangerous passage at the near post where de Ville and Ajala stood marked by multiple Southern defenders. All of them jumped to meet the ball as it came in, and it bounced around them, ultimately deflecting onto a Southern player and into the net past HarzlLippl in with the gloves for the Lions for 1-0.
This kicked Southern into gear. They had a chance from the kick-off through McCormack, who shot with power inside the box to draw a strong save from Dalton. It was a good chance from just outside the 6-yard box, but the Lions wouldn’t be made to rue not converting as they would make no mistake moments later.
Attempting to play it out from the back, Avoca centre-back Holly Firth-Panetta took possession on the edge of her box, looking to pass. As she did, she was rapidly closed downby Hardie, who picked her pocket and was suddenly through on goal. With a great sight of goal, Hardie thumped the ball into the top of the net, tying the game quickly after going behind 1-1.
Generally, Southern would now have momentum, but that’s not the story of this game. The Sharks would strike back with a spectacular team goal in the 64th minute, another goal in rapid response.
It began with the tireless Cutcliffe winning Avoca the ball in their attacking half. She laid it off to Ajala centrally, who took it into the final third; Ajala then played it to Grace Jefferies just in from the right, who shot as she cut in towards goal from outside the box. Her shot rebounded and fell to the feet of the only Shark who ran through, Milne, who, with great composure, struck the ball towards the far side of goal, where it found the net, erupting the Avoca fans in the stands as the scoreline changed to 2-1.
The game then settled briefly, and Avoca controlled the ball into the 70th minute, but still, more twists were to come, and the Lions, showing unreal resilience, tied it again.
Southern’s second equaliser arrived when Charleen Jeffery was swarmed by Avoca defenders in the box but refused to give up on the play. Jeffery dribbled the ball out of the box, where she managed then to find the space for a cross back in and find the foot of a tenacious McCormack, who battled her way to the ball just on the 6-yard box and stretched out to smash the ball into the net for 2-2 in the 74th minute.
This goal came against the run of play at the time, but now the Lions were pouncing, and soon they would take the lead.
Sometimes, a game is so tight that luck decides it more than anything else, and with their third of the match, Southern were starting to feel just that little bit luckier than the Sharks.
The goal began normal enough: a nice pass from McCormack into the box, where she found Hannah Davidson running in. Davidson Shot from the left of goal and drew a nice save from Dalton, who tipped it onto the bar. However, the ball spun wildly, and when it landed, it diverted back into the goal. Despite being behind twice, Southern were now in the lead 3-2.
Yet once again, the lead wouldn’t last long. Whatever it was, something about this game kept bringing the two teams back onto level terms.
This incredible game’s sixth and final goal came instantly after the fifth from the super sub de Ville. The striker was given too much space down the left, so she took the ball into the box, composed herself, and put in a pinpoint shot with her left foot that slid past Lippl and into the far side of goal for 3-3 within the last 10 minutes.
The revelation after the game that de Ville finished the match with a broken clavicle made this fightback even more remarkable.
If it hadn’t been evident before how much this game meant to both sides, watching these final minutes would have convinced anyone it was for the premiership itself.
Desperation was seen and heard across the field and into the grandstand, but no one would break the deadlock, and extra time began.
Fatigue began to set in during the additional 30 minutes, and both teams had chances, but they couldn’t take them as the looming stress of penalties grew.
De Ville and Ajala both had chances to ice the game for the Sharks, just as McCormack did at the other end for the Lions, but ultimately, it came down to a shootout.
Elaine McConaghey would take the first of four successful penalties for Southern with a strike to her right.
Milne would answer for Avoca to tie it at 1-1 before Eliza Forkin reestablished the Southern ascendancy at 2-1.
Then, stepping up for the Sharks was their captain, Hayley Routledge, who hit the ball with power to the right of goal but couldn’t get it above a saveable height, allowing Lippl to keep it out.
Jessica Hannan stepped up to take the next Lions pen, and despite it looking like Dalton had saved it to her left, the ref called that the ball was over the line, and now it was 3-1.
Cutcliffe would draw one back with a solid penalty to her right, but Elizabeth McCarthy, who was subbed on to take a shot just before extra time ended, kept the two-goal lead, leaving Southern in a do-or-die situation.
Ava Perricone had the unenviable job of keeping the shootout going, having to score to avoid losing 4-2. There’s no greater pressure in the sport, and unfortunately for Avoca, the ball went sailing over the bar on this occasion. Southern won, and Avoca’s season was over.
Southern will now go on to have one final chance to beat the undefeated Entrance team, who have dominated Women’s Division One this season, for a chance to become premiers.
Talking to the Avoca coach Mark Beatson after the match, he revealed the injuries mentioned above and reflected on how proud he was to see his side return to good form in the finals after struggling for the back end of the season.
“It’s always flat losing in a penalty shootout, but they finished 18 points above us on the table, we had never scored a goal against them all season, so to be in front throughout the game, to make it three-all, that was a pretty good effort on our part,” Beatson said.
“We had an atrocious season as far as injuries went, and there was a period where we didn’t score a goal for six or seven games.
“So I’m glad with how we finished; we were on the way back up, and it made us realise that we are a competitive team and we deserve to be here.”
Match Official – Stephen Wrightson
Men’s Final
Wyoming 2 – 3 Gosford
The Men’s Division One semi-final, the second incredible Division One match on Sunday, was a nail-biting showdown between the Wyoming Tigers and the Gosford Dragons.
Finishing second and fourth in the regular season, respectively, these two great rivals were primed for a classic on the main field at Pluim Park.
And as wind and rain swirled from the night sky, Gosford would pull off the upset with one of the most remarkable closing stages to a game I have ever seen.
As the match kicked off, there was an inescapable chill in the air, and the wind got so cold that it had a noticeable impact on the first half.
Wyoming would dominate most of the opening 45 minutes, but not to a degree that left Gosford worried. While the Dragons themselves would spend almost the entire half trying to counter but rarely challenging the Tigers’ defence. In other words, the game was struggling to kick into gear.
However, this didn’t stop both teams from realising chances, and the Tigers had the majority and best of them.
One such chance came when Patrick Mills and Brendan Martin combined down the right wing with a lovely one-two. This allowed Martin to get onto the ball in the box, but he just lost control of it, and the chance faded.
It is worth noting that Gosford’s final line of defence was performing well, keeping the Tigers wide and disrupting anything centrally when they tried to come in. Ian Yates, who has great game awareness for cutting off through balls, did much of this work. However, he couldn’t get them all, and in the 20th minute, one such pass led to an opener for Wyoming.
Tigers’ player/coach Ian McAndrew found himself in plenty of space driving into the Gosford half centrally. McAndrew took the space before playing a perfect through ball along the ground that put Mills on goal in the left of the box, where he smartly sent the ball past Ethan Giles in goals for Gosford for 1-0.
Although there was plenty of time to go, it felt at this juncture that Wyoming would go on to comfortably win this game; that’s how little the Dragons had shown going forward.
Yet, gradually, Gosford became more expansive, and towards the back end of the first half, they earned their first real chances.
Their best moment of the half began when Kevin Gallagher beat two Tigers defenders down the right wing before cutting it across to Andrew Morris on the edge of the box, who managed to control it well enough but sent his shot wide left of goal.
Then they’d have another crack when Brock Crumpton began a play through the centre of the field when he found Morris ahead of him, who quickly got it to Henry Rodgers, who drove towards goal and unleashed a powerful strike on goal that was brilliantly saved with a dive to his left by Wyoming keeper Joshua Byrnes.
That was enough to send the game into halftime, with all the drama yet to come. Wyoming had most of the possession but couldn’t do much with it, and suddenly, Gosford were giving them something to worry about.
From the kick-off, Wyoming would have a half chance when McAndrew ran a sly play out of the circle where he got Mills between the lines, who played his left winger Panashe Mudavose, who cut into the box and went down, but the ref waved away the contact and the ball went out for a corner that Gosford dealt with.
Remaining on top through to the 50th minute, the Tigers would have two more quick chances to extend their lead.
The first came through Tait Johnston, who was gifted space through central midfield when Crumpton slipped over in front of him. Johnston took the ball towards goal and shot from outside the box, drawing a save from Giles to his left but nothing more.
The second came when McAndrew subbed himself off for Branko Bojanic, who would almost immediately score when he took the ball on the edge of the box to the right and thrashed the ball towards the top corner of the near post, where Giles tipped it over the bar.
Bojanic took the proceeding corner, and on his third attempt, he got it to beyond the far post, where it found the head of his centre-back Mitchell Meredith, who nodded the ball into the 6-yard box towards Mills, who fought for the ball and won it. Mills shot, but it flew up and over the bar, leaving the score at 1-0.
Now, with Wyoming looking totally in control, the last thing anyone expected next was a Gosford goal, but that’s what happened, and it was a goal-of-the-season contender.
Gallagher began the move when he played a ball to Jackson Jacobs on the edge of the box. The forward looked to get into the box but only saw yellow in front of him, so he played the ball backwards to substitute Kerian Montaser, who belted the ball into the top left corner like it was nothing and sent the Gosford fans into a frenzy as the scoreline became 1-1.
Now, all the energy on the ground was with the Dragons, and they pushed hard to find a lead.
Tigers captain Jared McNee was called into action when Gosford’s Emerson Baratto got around a retreating Mudavose and into the box. McNee was the last defender but slid in and made a great tackle to ensure the game remained tied.
Wyoming would then have a chance on the counter when Mills made his way down the left wing with a great chance to cross to substitute Reegan Cairns in the box, but when the pass came, Cairns overran it, and the chance died.
Then, the unthinkable for Wyoming finally happened: they went behind. Gosford’s second was from the same pair as the last goal, and it came when Jacobs played Montaser wide left into the box. This time, he shot to the far side of the goal and made it 2-1. Wyoming were now ruing their missed chances, and worst of all for the boys in yellow, the clock read 85 minutes.
But the biggest twist was still yet to come; against all odds, Wyoming would tie the game back up when their substitute, Michael Carson, got onto the end of a cross from the left wing that Gosford failed to deal with, and he tapped it home for 2-2.
Now, the match looked almost certain to head to extra time. It was the 88th minute, and Wyoming was doing all they could to see the game out under the Gosford pressure.
Soon, the clock read 90, but the ref allowed for injury time, and deep into the added time, a Gosford miracle would happen.
Jacobs again found himself pestering the Tigers’ defence, this time down the left side. He took it deep and sent in a cutback to the box, where Montaser was waiting and where he completed his hat-trick with a perfect finish across goal for 3-2.
The roof was almost blown off the grandstand as the Gosford fans who braved the coldcelebrated the stunning finale and the emergence of a hero in Montaser, who produced three of the best when it mattered most.
Fulltime swiftly followed; 3-2, fourth beats second, and the Tigers were left to wonder what happened as the Dragons rejoiced.
Wyoming will still join the Premier League next season, but now it is Gosford who will face the high-flying Ourimbah in the grand final.
Talking to Gosford coach Shea Taylor after the match, he praised the man who won his side the game and spoke of his excitement about playing the best of the best in Ourimbah in the final.
“The game was mad, wasn’t it? It was a game of two halves, one of those games where it was for anyone to take. We rode our luck at times, but at the same time, there were a couple of decisive misses from them which changed the fortunes, and we went to the other end and converted with the super-sub Kieran.”
On playing Ourimbah in the final, he said.
“I’m excited, bring it on!”
“We’re excited for the opportunity and for the chance to put things right after the two games we played against them already, which I think are two wins we should’ve had”
“I have confidence in my boys. At the end of the day, we definitely deserve to be here. We’ve got a never say die spirit, so it’s nice to be the underdog.”
While Wyoming’s Ian McAndrew, who played a stellar game in his own right, reflected on the missed chances and congratulated his opponents.
“We controlled the game for 60 mins and had a chance of go 2-0 up but we missed the chance,” McAndrew said.
“That’s been the story of our year, we don’t capitalise on our chances. From the 60th minute they got on top and took control of the game.
“Credit has to be given to Gosford for sticking it out and not giving up and the young lad who came on and scored a hat-trick. Good luck to both teams next week”.
Match Official – Luke Dunkerley
Written by Mark Goodyear