2022 NPL Women's NNSW Grand Final
Warners Bay FC 4-2 Newcastle Olympic
Warners Bay secured the premiership-championship double with a 4-2 victory over Newcastle Olympic in the NPL Women’s NNSW grand final on Sunday.
The Panthers proved why they were the competition’s premiers after dominating all year finishing top of the table on 55 points.
Despite going into the game as favourites, Warners Bay were made to work for their glory as Olympic refused to bow down and give them the win.
The two sides battled hard to secure the first goal of the game at No.2 Sportsground and it was the premiers who were rewarded with a goal to Lauren Allan in the 10th minute following an Adriana Konjarski corner.
Tara Andrews made it 2-0 six minutes later following another Konjarski corner to put Warners Bay in a strong position.
Olympic were far from out of the game though as they began to build momentum and get themselves back in the contest.
A penalty to Olympoc in the 42nd minute following a Konjarski foul on Jemma House saw Olympic captain Laura Hall halve the deficit at half-time.
Olympic came out of the sheds firing in the second half but Warners Bay were quick to reclaim dominance after a defensive error in the 52nd minute saw Cass Davis find the back of the net to make it 3-1 to the Panthers.
Olympic got one back in the 57th minute through Keely Gawthrop following an impressive period of play to make it 3-2
But Warners Bay went on to claim victory in the 83rd minute when Allan got the ball in the net following an awkward bounce that wrongfooted Natalie Wiseman in the Olympic goal.
Warners Bay coach Craig Atkins gave full credit for the win to his squad after the hard work they put in all season to get themselves to this point.
“Full credit to the girls, they deserve this,” Atkins said.
“They worked so hard with their training and attendance and even turned up and trained in the pouring rain on Thursday night but that’s what football is all about. You’ve got to turn up with the right attitude and the girls have done that all year and they deserve it.”
Following a tight first half and going into the sheds just one goal in front, Atkins stressed to his squad how important it was to get back to playing their style of football.
“I thought for the first half hour or so we controlled the game, being two goals up and then obviously the penalty happened and a few things started rattling the girls,” Atkins said.
“There were a couple of challenges that weren’t great but going into half-time I said just get back to what we do and what we’ve done all year.”
After losing to Olympic in the 2020 grand final and having lost to them in round 10 of this season, Atkins was under no illusion as to how tough the game would be.
“I’ve always had the belief in these girls that we could win any game but I knew this one would be tough,” Atkins said.
“Olympic’s style is a very in your face style and they love to play football as well so I think we had two very good football teams here today which is what a grand final should be.
“We knew we had to match their intensity today and I thought we did that well enough. It wasn’t our best game in some patches but overall we won the battle.”
After a season dampened by a slow start, major injuries and player absences, Newcastle Olympic proved to be the surprise packet coming into the back end of the season.
Following a thrilling come from behind win in the minor semi-final against Charlestown Azzurri and defeating Broadmeadow Magic in the preliminary final, Olympic proved their doubters wrong and booked their place in the grand final.
Despite falling at the final hurdle, Olympic coach Paul Devitis could not be prouder of the heart and determination his squad showed to get themselves so far.
“To our credit, the girls just battled all the way which has been our mantra all through the finals series and [the squad] should definitely be holding their heads high with the way they came back into the game,” Devitis said.
“It’s been a phenomenal effort [to make it to the grand final]. As I was writing out the team sheet and you’ve got to fill out the girls that are missing, we had six unavailable players which is a lot, it’s almost half the starting team so for everyone to battle as much as they did and for people like Laura Hall to play with injuries, full credit to the girls.
“It didn’t matter how many players we had or how many players we had out, the girls just wanted to play football and their desire and passion for the game really has shone through lately and it’s been amazing as a coach to watch that.”
In a season built on determination, heart and desire, Devitis always had faith that his squad could make it to the end.
“Once the finals hit, we really stepped it up and the three games that we played against Charlestown, Magic and Warners Bay were absolute top-quality games,” Devitis said.
“I’m over the moon with how we’ve responded to the setbacks we’ve had this year and that shows a lot of personality and mental strength for the girls to be able to do that.”
