Round 19 Review – PS4 NPL 2 NSW Women’s
The weather again intervened this week, and threatened to ruin yet another weekend of the PlayStation® 4 National Premier Leagues 2 NSW Women’s 2016.
Luckily though conditions cleared by Sunday afternoon and we were treated to another great round of football.
The Mariners earned a point when they travelled to Bankstown, and on the south coast Sydney Olympic bounced back emphatically with a huge win over Southern Branch, while Sydney’s west saw a massive upset with Nepean ousting Inter.
The match of the round took place up in Asquith, with the Tigers playing host to Sutherland. With identical records coming into this one, could either side find the decisive advantage to claim all three points?
First though, yet another midweek fixture to deal with.
Round 12:
Central Coast Mariners FC vs Bankstown City FC, 7.30pm Thursday August 4th at Pluim Park NO.3
Would you believe me if I told you that this catch up fixture was washed out as well? Sydney’s wet weather struck again during the week, leaving this match to be played once again at a later date. Fingers crossed for a dry evening this time.
Round 19 Review:
Match of the round:
Northern Tigers FC vs Sutherland Shire FA, 3pm Sunday August 7th at Mills Park
As expected, both sides looked composed on the ball right from the opening whistle of this one. Unfortunately that didn’t translate into clear cut chances in the first period.
The Tigers were the first of the sides to get on the front foot as they started to gain a grip on the match in midfield chiefly through the tireless work rate of holding midfielder Emma Watkins. She was able to cut out quite a number of dangerous passes, and was at the centre of most of the Tigers best moves going forward with her bursting runs from midfield. Most impressive of these actions was when she came across in cover to intercept a great through ball from Sutherland’s Rochelle Borromeo which would have put Raegan Deeley right in on goal.
Sutherland seemed happy to let the Tigers play the ball out wide to Hannah McNulty and Alycia Macqueen. They’d receive the ball near the touchline in space, but their options in the middle were always blocked off, leaving them isolated. Also, Jessica Ellis and Toni Vukasin both did a particularly good job of stopping the service into the feet of Eilidh Mackay, and on the few occasions she was found she was quickly placed under pressure that didn’t allow her to turn and face goal.
Genevieve Nisbet was moved into right wing midway through the half and had probably the best chance for Sutherland. Sutherland broke, and her pace allowed her to beat her defender to the ball, but instead of burning the last defender she slowed down and held the ball up. A more natural attacker would have backed themselves to go beyond in that situation, as we would see later in the match.
But that’s the kind of half it was; any small chances that were created were snuffed out almost immediately. It showed just how evenly matched these two sides are as they sparred with each other for the opening 45 minutes, however the second half would see a few bigger punches thrown.
The Tigers flew out of the blocks in the second half, immediately creating the best chance of the game so far.
Mackay intercepted a square pass from Sutherland and drove forward before playing the ball out wide for McNulty. McNulty steadied and thrashed her cross low and hard across the goal for Mackay to tap home, but she was pressured out of it by the Sutherland defence and the chance was gone.
Sutherland made a change at half time, bringing on Morgan Maxwell in place of Genevieve Nisbet. This allowed Jessica Ellis to push up in the right wing, which gave Sutherland a little more penetration going forward, especially as the half wore on.
The Tigers were looking quite good at this point, and Mackay nearly found the breakthrough after 55 minutes. Macqueen’s cross from the right was deflected high, but Mackay attacked the dropping ball and struck it on the volley towards goal but once again some desperate Sutherland defenders prevented the goal by blocking the shot not long after it left the number 10’s boot.
Mackay would finally give the Tigers the lead they desired in the 59th minute. Some lovely interplay in the corner saw the ball rolled into the feet of Macqueen, who feinted inside before rolling her defender and darting into the box on the outside. She got her head up and slid an intelligent ball back towards the penalty spot right into the stride of Mackay who angled her strike into the top corner with her first touch. Super piece of play from the Tigers and they had a deserved lead.
Ellana Balicki nearly doubled their lead from a free kick a few minutes later. She struck it sweetly for the bottom corner, but Alchi in the Sutherland goal was up to the task as she palmed it round the post.
Sutherland should have equalised in the 65th minute, but Ellis and Borromeo both went for the same ball on the edge of the box and got in each other’s way. Both were lined up to strike on goal but they made a complete hash of the chance and the Tigers were off the hook for the time being.
The Tigers began to really pin Sutherland back, and were attacking in waves. They weren’t creating clear cut chances – which they’d come to rue – but in this period they were always first to the ball when Sutherland cleared it out of defence, and they’d immediately start another attack.
Sutherland weathered the storm though, and were rewarded with an equaliser on 77 minutes. The Tigers were holding the ball up on half way, looking in control, but it only took one errant pass for them to be punished.
Borromeo latched onto a loose ball with only Tigers skipper Amanda Skellern in front of here, and unlike Nisbet in the first half she backed her pace and flicked the ball in behind Skellern. Kate Anthonisz came flying out of her goal, but Borromeo was in the clear at this point so from just outside the corner of the box about 30 yards from goal she curled a controlled shot over the onrushing Anthonisz and under the crossbar. A smart finish executed perfectly but the livewire Sutherland forward.
The Tigers were a little shell-shocked after conceding the equaliser and couldn’t quite find their rhythm again in the final 15 minutes. It did become quite scrappy with both sets of players rushing into tackles a little bit harder to try and find the advantage.
Borromeo almost stole it with an outrageous left footed volley on the turn in the final minute, and had she been able to pick her spot, Anthonisz would have been helpless. Instead she made a comfortable save and that was that.
A fascinating game at Mills Park between two of the competition heavyweights ended 1-1, giving both teams plenty of questions to ponder should they meet each other in this year’s finals series.
Bankstown City FC vs Central Coast Mariners FC, 2.05pm Sunday August 7th at Jensen Park
Bankstown couldn’t make home ground advantage count against the Mariners, with neither side troubling the scorers in a 0-0 draw at Jensen Park. Finding a way to get over the line for that win is proving so tough for Central Coast. They’ve shown good signs in the last few weeks that they’re close, but sealing the deal gets tougher the longer you go without winning.
Bankstown will want a strong finish over the next couple of weeks to end the season on a high. They would have pencilled this in as a match where they could really go for the win, but like a few occasions this year they haven’t been able to get the three points in the matches that – on paper at least – they should have little trouble with. Working on that consistent level of performance may be item number one on the list for 2017.
Nepean FC vs Inter Lions SC, 3pm Sunday August 7th at Cook Park
Nepean have pulled of the upset of the weekend by defeating Inter 2-1 at Cook Park. A massive win for Nepean as it keeps alive their slim hopes of a place in the finals. Stephanie Haaring gave the home side a lead which they took into half time, before Natalie Lawrie sealed the match in the second half when she got on the scoresheet. Natalie Difrancesco gave Inter a lifeline, but it wasn’t enough to get them back into the match and force a draw.
This is a big result in the race for the premiership with Inter’s lead now cut to a single point. Any of the top four can now claim first place for their own come the end of Round 21, and Inter don’t want to start wobbling now having led the league all season. They’ve let point slip in recent weeks, and need to right the ship with Bankstown, Sutherland, and the catch up with Olympic as their final three games of the season.
Southern Branch FC vs Sydney Olympic FC, 3pm Sunday August 7th at South Nowra Football Complex
Olympic have put Southern Branch to the sword with a comprehensive 5-1 victory down in Nowra, with Melissa Swinfield’s goal the only tangible reward from the day for the home side. This was a bit of a danger game for Olympic, but a reaction like this was always on the cards after they were taught a bit of a lesson by the Tigers last week. Olympic are such a dangerous team in that they can pull a bag of goals like this out of nowhere, and there isn’t a great deal that you can do to stop them when they decide they’re in the mood. They’ll need to bottle this form for the next couple of weeks, as they remain the outsiders in the race for the title.
The catch up win over Bankstown aside, it hasn’t been a great last month for Southern Branch. They’ve got a team with plenty of talent but they’ve dropped points all over the place, and up against some real quality they’ve been on the end of a couple of pastings. A couple of more weeks and they can sit back and work out just where it’s gone wrong after a solid start, but until they need to find the resolve to finish the year on a strong note.
Reserve Grade:
Molly Woods got on the scoresheet for the Northern Tigers as they drew 1-1 at home with Sutherland Shire. Bianca Galayini, Kaitlin Harms, and Erin Hill allowed Nepean to power past Inter 3-0. In Nowra, Sarah Hickling got on the scoresheet for Southern but it wasn’t enough to prevent Olympic from running out 3-1 winners. Bankstown City had the bye this weekend.
By Eamonn Warner, PS4 National Premier Leagues 2 NSW Women’s Reporter
