Womens State League Round 1 Finals Series Review
The finals are amongst us and what great teams we have to battle it out for the crown of Women’s State League Champions for 2014.
Mt Druitt Town Rangers FC 1 – 1 St George (aet: St George advances on penalties 4-1)
With a strong gust of wind and a cold shiver coming across what seemed like an eerie afternoon at Jensen Park came the combatants from the opposite ends of the city. Teams 3 and 4 of the competition battled it out for the right to advance to the next round. The consequence for the loser was elimination.
On one side the Saints whose attacking brand of football have wowed fans throughout the season and whose flair has brought with it 106 goals in 21 games. Their opponents were Mt Druitt; a team built on spirit, structure and strength whose confidence as a team saw their opponents quiver in their sights.
The game started as expected, a complete tussle in the middle of the park. From early on it was evident that determination and focus would win this game. The steely midfield from Mt Druitt against St George’s maestros showed exactly what finals football meant early on.
As the half wore on Saints skipper Lauren Gardner stepped up from her usual workload and was all over the park. Runs, tackles, passes she did it all, her coverage from the middle of the park orchestrated attacks early on to her striker Rachelle Wang and swiftie winger Georgia Koinis. On the other end interceptions and crucial tackles as Mt Druitt’s Elise Robins and Brooke Conroy looked dangerous.
Then Taryn Rockall demonstrated some inventive positioning as she began pulling the strings for the Rangers feeding some great balls to her own strikers, in the process taking advantage of the gaps in the St George midfield. Unfortunately for Rockall St George’s centre-halves Samantha Scarlato and Bronte Young were amazing as their composure kept them in the game in the first half.
With just seconds to go Mt Druitt came close after a set piece lead them with a chance outside the box but was hit above the crossbar by Rockall. It was a physically demanding half with limited highlights as both sides were understandably nervous as the teams headed into the sheds at nil-all.
After the break St George came out with all guns blazing as Melissa Toumbelekis began injecting herself in the game. After having a subpar performance in the first half Toumbelekis and wingback Natalie Bakrdinikoska showed some great interplay wreaking havoc down the sidelines. Their effort led to Toumbelekis getting free in the 58th minute to provide an assist to Wang in the middle but was brilliantly save by Kirsty Robins.
Similar to the first the second half was slow and was played in periods. Each team were conservative and were just unable to create any chances. Much to the crowd’s disbelief the usual crafty play that brought the Saints to the finals was no match to the organisation the Town Rangers eleven demonstrated as the match ended in a stalemate at extra time.
As both sides came together for the start of extra time you could feel that the momentum started to shift towards St George. They showed more of their normal selves as Gardner and Toumbelekis began to pull the strings from midfield. In what looked like fatigue, the Mt Druitt defence began to show signs of frustration and lack of focus which lead to a foul to Gardner from just outside the box.
Toumbelekis who then placed the ball on the spot and began to hurl what seemed like an almost inch perfect cross to her striker Wang was cleared out of the way by Mt Druitt defenders. Then in an unfortunate twist of fate Mt Druitt’s Emma Sloan miscalculated and kicked the ball into the back of her own net.
One-nil to St George as Sloan fell to her knees in agony. Though Mt Druitt saw this as an opportunity to play and play they did as they began to press forward higher and higher all the way to halftime. The second half began in frantic pace as both sides vied for clear chances.
Rockall was superb as she controlled the pace of the game with great distribution from midfield. Attack after attack as the Green and Gold marched higher and higher up St George’s half, then a foul in a similar position as the one that caused the own goal.
The ball was then delivered into the net and a goal mouth scramble erupted as Mt Druitt’s Natasha Vaccari stumped the ball in the back of the net for the equaliser. One-all much to the delight of the screaming fans from the west.
What was next was the lottery known as the penalty shootouts. Five brave shot-takers stepped up and of course the main attraction, the goalkeepers. After 120 minutes of football it came down to this and in such a cruel manner St George won the shootout 4-1 as their keeper recorded three amazing saves from the spot. Unlucky for Mt Druitt but St George stay alive.
Bankstown City FC 5 -1 Nepean FC
After a gritty first half that saw Bankstown lead 1-0 the game began to open up early in the second term.
The Lionesses showed their ruthlessness as they fed star striker Samantha Muscat the support to score an amazing four goals for the day. Tania Baban also got on the scoresheet as Bankstown book their place to the Grand-Final.
-By Chris Doroudger
