Match of the Round
Killarney 0 – 0 Southern & Ettalong
A very cold afternoon at Edsacc Oval saw the two bottom teams of the table clash as Southern looked to claim their second win of the year and the home side Killarney were hoping to pick up their first points of the season.
The contest for both halves can be summed up with end-to-end football with both teams having chances on goal but neither side was able to convert on these opportunities as both sides would leave with a single point to their name after a goalless draw.
Terriers head coach Adam Tait commented on his side after the game. “From a Killarney point of view, we got our first point of the year. We just need to keep building.”
Match Official – Nathan Boler
Umina 1 – 1 Terrigal
Umina this past weekend welcomed league leaders Terrigal to Umina Oval as the E-Gals looked to close the gap on first place and hand the O’lasses their first competition loss of 2023.
Terrigal defended and played out with confidence in the opening period as Umina didn’t give them too much to worry about for the majority of the first half.
Overall, the first half was fairly even with a lot of the play staying in the middle third with both teams not pushing too many forward, but a lot of quality football was still played as the score remained locked at 0-0 after the opening 45 minutes.
The second half saw both sides come out hungry for the 3 points as the intensity of the game lifted considerably.
Terrigal pushed on with a high press and won a lot of balls in the Umina half. However, nothing too threatening came about with so much territory.
Terrigal had their best chance of the game when a handball in the box resulted in a penalty that Terrigal was unable to convert.
After multiple attacking surges, Terrigal were finally rewarded for their persistence after a superb corner, taken by Georgah Shearim, found Rachel Darby at the far post who headed home giving Terrigal the well-deserved lead.
In the very next phase of play, Umina surged down the left-hand side, Hannah Batten crossed into the near post as Chelsea Campbell was able to convert to bring the match back to evens.
Both sides created huge chances in the last 10 minutes. Terrigal scuffed a 1 on 1, while Umina had two corners that were inches away from finding the back of the net.
Terrigal continued to work hard in breaking down Umina’s defence, come the 90th minute the points were shared in an exciting game between two competitive teams.
“Credit to Umina, they did everything to stop a very determined Terrigal team today. We were classy in defence and created chance after chance in so many different areas of the park,” spoke Gab Blanch of Terrigal
“I’m really happy with how we showed up for this one, we had some last-minute ins and outs, and it was great to see the squad respond to this positively,” added Gab.
“We were unlucky not to jag a second, or even third goal, but I am only taking away positives from this match. The discipline shown by our girls not to play into Umina’s boxing match antics is a credit to their class.”
Steve Donaldson also spoke post-game about the opposition and how the contest played out. “We went into the game against Terrigal a lot more confident in our game this time around with just about our full team in. We tried to play our possession from the back, but Terrigal’s press was just too good.”
“In hindsight, I’ll take some blame in that I should’ve changed our style up to counter that, but we were solid in our defence even with the amount of ball Terrigal had in our half. Side note, massive credit to our Reserves though, who played incredibly well to win their game,” voiced Steve.
Match Official – Kyle Hockings
Kincumber 2 – 3 Kanwal
Kanwal travelled to Kincumber looking to consolidate their spot in the top four whilst Kincumber was looking for all three points to keep their semi-final hopes alive.
The game started well with both sides enjoying periods of dominance however it was Kanwal who would take the lead through current golden boot leader Jordan Evans who finished off a good team goal.
Jordan Evans then doubled the Bulls’ lead, scoring directly from the corner to put her side 2-0 up.
Despite going two goals down, Kincumber rallied and were able to take control of the game. Their persistence was rewarded with a great-headed goal from Helaina Wellington which made it 2-1.
Conceding the goal seemed to kick Kanwal into gear as the Bulls responded almost instantly with Hayley Green getting herself on the scoresheet for Kanwal’s third goal of the day.
Despite hitting the woodwork four times in the first half, Kanwal couldn’t add to their goals as they went onto the break 3-1 up.
The second half was a real struggle for both sides. Kincumber pressured the Kanwal defence and goalkeeper but couldn’t find a way through while Kanwal looked devoid of ideas with the ball and struggled to handle the pace of Kincumber when defending.
With 15mins to go, Kincumber scored a deserved second goal with a well-timed shot from Airley Arnold that rifled into the bottom corner.
This set up a grandstand finish and twice Kincumber looked likely to score the equaliser but was thwarted by two excellent one-on-one saves by the Kanwal keeper as the score remained 3-2 to the Bulls at full time.
“Full credit to Kincumber today,” spoke Kanwal’s Ben Raychaudhuri. “They worked their socks off and made life extremely difficult for us today.”
“They have pace across the park, and I can see them taking points off the top sides soon. As for Kanwal, we were flat again today. It’s no excuse but we have had the flu run through the squad a bit over the last few weeks, so I’m just pleased to come here and grab the six points.”
Match Official – Jeffrey Smith
Golden Boot Standings –
| 13 | Jordan Evans (Kanwal) |
| 11 | Kayla Vanderfield (East Gosford) |
| 8 | Candice Phelan (Terrigal) |
| 6 | Kelly Hogan (East Gosford), Jordan Evans (Kanwal), Taylor Thackray (East Gosford), Hayls Ballard (Kanwal), Gabrielle Blanch (Terrigal) |
| 5 | Hannah Batten (Umina) |
Points Table –
Club Championship –
