Umina v Southern & Ettalong
The round 5 match of the round will see a battle of the peninsula as Southern & Ettalong travel to Umina Oval to face the E-gals in a rematch of the 2022 WPL First Grade Grand Final.
2022 was a year to remember for Umina as they claimed the Women’s Association Cup, WPL League Champions and WPL Premiers, a truly incredible feat.
However, the E-Gals have not had the greatest start to their 2023 campaign as they currently possess a record of zero wins, one draw, and two losses.
Their first loss of the year came in their opening fixture when the E-Gals travel to Duffy’s Oval to face Terrigal. In a very close and intense battle, Terrigal prevailed 2-1.
In their second fixture of the year, Umina hosted East Gosford and despite the Rams getting a player sent off early in the first half, Umina were held to a 1-1 draw.
Last week Umina made the trek north to Wadalba where they faced Umina and were outplayed by a well-organised Kanwal side who picked up a 3-1 victory.
Umina also played during the week on Anzac Day for the 2023 Premier Autocare Association Cup Women’s Grand Final. Once again Umina fell short as East Gosford narrowly edged out the E-Gals with a 1-0 win after a very back-and-forth contest between the two.
“The team was pretty down about the losses. It was our worst performance in years against Kanwal. We were beaten by a better team on the day. East Gosford’s game hurt, but that could’ve gone either way and we performed a lot better,” voiced captain Chelsea Campbell.
“We always knew the first few games was going to be tough. We haven’t been anywhere near full strength, but we would’ve liked to have gotten more out of the games. We’ve still definitely mixed it with the top teams, so it’s looking like another year where we will hopefully come home strong.”
Umina will be hoping to turn a new leaf this Sunday and get their year back on track, starting with a win over Southern in the peninsular derby.
The last time these two teams met was for the 2022 first-grade grand final and Umina had a great day out, picking up a 6-0 victory to be crowned WPL premiers.
However, Southern has quite a different squad this year as Umina are unsure of what to expect. “Bit hard to know what Southern are like this year. They’re a lot different to last year. However, a peninsula derby is always hard fought so we don’t expect it to be easy.”
Chelsea also added that the team need to get back to playing their style of football and the result this weekend should follow. “I think the key is just enjoying our football. We’ve been under the pump on and off the field as of late. We’ve just got to go out there and play our game which revolves around enjoying it and playing positively.”
Southern & Ettalong will be eager to get back on their pitch after their 10-0 loss to East Gosford just last weekend.
Now for the second week in a row, the Lionesses will feature in the WPL Match of the Round as they look for grand final redemption against Umina.
Southern got their season underway in round 2 when they welcomed Killarney to James Browne Oval. The Lionesses were able to secure all three points in front of a home crowd as they walked away 2-1 victors.
In their second fixture of the year, Cait Walker’s side struggled immensely away from home against competition heavyweights East Gosford.
Now they must look to overcome that big defeat and prepare for the peninsula derby against another WPL heavyweight in Umina.
The fact that this Sunday will mark Umina’s third game in seven days so early in the season, fatigue could play a massive part in this fixture which Southern would look to use to their advantage.
Despite losing multiple players to their squad, Southern still possesses plenty of quality and experience that will be needed if they wish to pick up a result come Sunday.
Match Official – Wayne Young
All Round 5 Fixtures –
