Match of the Round
Terrigal 2 – 1 Umina
Sunday’s match of the round did not disappoint when Terrigal hosted Umina as both squads showed up determined and ready for battle on Easter Sunday.
In front of a home crowd, Terrigal started well and had Umina on the back foot for the majority of the first half. The O’lasses created plenty of chances but the E-Gals backline remained tight as the opening 45 minutes remained a stalemate as the two sides headed into the break locked at 0-0.
The game opened up a lot more in the second period as Umina came out firing, making the Terrigal defence work hard as the O’lasses attack pushed higher allowing Umina to have more luxury going forward and looked to be the team growing larger.
The deadlock was finally broken after 70 minutes of play when a Umina player misplaced a ball trying to play out from the back. The ball fell to Gabi Blanch who won her midfield battle and lost her defender before spotting the Umina goalkeeper slightly off her line. Gabi shot from distance and slotted home in the top left corner to give her side a valuable 1-0 lead.
However, Umina responded within just minutes and were able to find an equaliser with a well-worked goal down Hannah Battens left side who crossed the ball into Freja Murray who slotted the ball in the top right corner from the edge of the box to take the game back on level terms.
The game continued to offer scoring opportunities for both sides, but it was the reigning Premiers Umina who looked more likely to get the go-ahead goal.
With only minutes remaining, a quick counterattack from Terrigal and some well-executed combination play in the lead-up to get into the box was fired home by Terrigal’s prolific goal scorer Candice Phelan who secured the win for her side in their opening match of the season.
Gabrielle Blanch starts her WPL career for Terrigal in the best way possible, defeating Umina in both grades to take maximum points in their opening fixture. Blanch was ecstatic with her side’s performance. “I am thrilled with how we showed up for this match. We know how well-organised Umina can be, we prepared well and came out and did the job as planned.”
“We have been focussing on our formation, and with minimal time on a pitch, the players have adapted and executed really well so far. I am so proud of our whole squad for trusting in the foundation we are laying for what will hopefully be a really successful season. Umina was solid, as expected and we are happy to start our campaign with a six-point Sunday for our WPL squad!”
Despite not being able to get the result on Sunday, Umina’s coach Steve Donaldson was proud with the display of his understrength side. “Top, top effort by my girls. We said we were after any result against Terrigal and we were one minute away from that. We knew we weren’t going to play our best football with the squad availability, but we stuck it right to them.”
“Having both our strikers Kate and Bella out, and having 15-year-old reserve grade centre back and Keira Soames both play full games and play as a lone striker for us was nearly rewarded. We lapsed for a minute at the end and a quality team in Terrigal will always pounce on that. Really excited for the next fixture against them.”
Match Official – Troy Ward
Kanwal 2 – 1 Kincumber
Kanwal start their season with a win as they come from behind against competition newcomers Kincumber this past weekend.
In their long-awaited return to Women’s Premier League football, Kincumber came into the match with a gameplan and it was the Roos who started the better of the two clubs as the home side Kanwal came out flat.
The defensive line of Kincumber got to business immediately putting their bodies on the line to deny any free shots on goal.
You could sense Kincumber were up for the match and had a game plan that they stuck to extremely well. Sitting nine players behind the ball frustrated this Bulls side who had little success going forward as the opposition then looked to hit them on a counterattack whenever in possession.
Kincumber’s game plan paid off when Bree Josling was able to find herself on the end of a brilliant backfield surge from Emily Smith to give her side their first goal of the game and their first goal in the WPL competition. Bree’s goal was the only difference in the half as Kincumber held a 1-0 lead at the break.
Halftime came and went but the game remained the same as Kanwal once again struggled to break down the Kincumber defence and get themselves into the game. Kanwal’s coach Benjamin Raychaudhuri looked to his bench with the hope of changing the outcome of this game.
The addition of these new players saw Kanwal start to work themselves into the contest and were able to find an equaliser through a terrific left footed long-range strike from Hayls Ballard that found the back of the net.
This goal seemed to lift Kanwal even more as they continued to create chances and push forward for the winning goal which also left them exposed at the back which Kincumber did their best to exploit and restore their lead.
However, with only 5 minutes left to play, Hayley Green poked home the winner for the home side as Kanwal was able to hold on for a 2-1 win against a quality Kincumber side.
“Full credit to Kincumber who came to Wadalba with a plan, and they executed that plan perfectly,” spoke Kanwal’s head coach Ben.
“They probably didn’t deserve to go home with no points but that’s football, we’ve been on the opposite end of that on many occasions in the past, so it was refreshing to see us pull one out of the bag. It’s an important three points for us as we have a brand-new squad and need to accumulate as many points early if we want to make a splash in this competition.”
David Cullen of the Kincumber Roos stated post-game “Although we were on the wrong end of the scoresheet, the Kincumber Roos will take massive benefit from their first match together. With half the team under 20, the team is stacked with potential and looking forward to the season ahead.”
Match Official – Dylan Watson
Southern & Ettalong 2 – 1 Killarney
Southern & Ettalong hold on to their halftime lead to start their season with a win and all three points in front of a delighted home crowd.
Coming off a terrific 2022 season, it was adamant that Southern dust off their grand final loss and get back to winning ways in their opening fixture.
The match started extremely close as both teams began well which made for very entertaining end-to-end play. Killarney had the better of the opening chances, but poor execution and wayward finishing saw the Terriers unable to find the back of the net.
Killarney’s failure to convert on their early chances would come back to haunt them as Southern made no mistakes at the other end of the pitch to secure the game’s first goal.
An error from Killarney saw the Lionesses capitalise however, almost instantly from kick-off Killarney replied with a goal of their own as Haylie Eyers grabbed her first goal of the season to take the game back on level terms at 1-1.
The scoreline looked to remain at 1-1 heading into the break but with less than five minutes to go in the first half, Southern received a corner and a well-placed ball saw the Lionesses convert to go 2-1 up at the break.
The second half saw Killarney create scoring opportunities to level the game over and over, but poor execution once again disallowed Killarney any further goals as Southern scraped by to secure the three points thanks to the first-half goals from Brooke Hardie and Hannah Davidson.
Adam Tait commended the opposition for the win. “Full credit to Southern they showed way more enthusiasm than Killarney.”
Match Official – Jasper White
Golden Boot Standings –
| 2 | Lucy Metcalfe (East Gosford) |
| 1 | Annika Hansen (East Gosford), Kelly Hogan (East Gosford), Tahlor Thackray (East Gosford), Candice Phelan (Terrigal), Gabrielle Blanch (Terrigal), Freja Murray (Umina), Bree Josling (Kincumber), Hayley Ballard (Kanwal), Hayley Green (Kanwal), Brooke Hardie (Southern), Hannah Davidson (Southern), Haylie Eyers (Killarney) |
Points Table –
Club Championship –
