NPL Women’s NNSW Rescheduled Round Review: Maitland edge out Mid Coast to keep faint finals hopes alive
MATCH OF THE ROUND
NEW LAMBTON FC 1-7 ADAMSTOWN ROSEBUD JFC
Adamstown Rosebud scored their sixth win of the season when they defeated New Lambton 7-1 at Alder Park on Sunday.
Rosebud scored an impressive seven goals in the rescheduled round nine match to move to 20 points in sixth place, 10 points clear of seventh placed Mid Coast.
Despite remaining last on the competition table without a point, New Lambton’s silver lining was captain Emily Ridgeway scoring her first top grade goal.
“Our captain got her first first grade goal which was really exciting,” New Lambton coach Mackenzie Davis said.
“Overall the game was an amazing effort from our side. We had several opportunities going forwards throughout the whole 90 minutes.”
Playing a full 90-minute game has been something Davis has been working on with her young squad and while there are still improvements to be made, the Eagles are beginning to progress positively.
“There are still a lot of things to work on but games like this are positive for our young squad,” Davis said.
Adamstown coach Ryan Campbell was less than impressed with his side’s performance despite scoring seven goals and running out comfortable winners.
“Overall it wasn’t our greatest performance but the girls did enough to win the game,” Campbell said.
“There were a lot of basic errors and we were off in a lot of individual things.”
New Lambton will next travel to Magic Park where they will face Broadmeadow while Adamstown will travel to Cooks Square Park to take on Maitland.
MAITLAND FC 1-0 MID COAST FC
Maitland secured a crucial 1-0 win when they hosted Mid Coast at Cooks Square Park in their rescheduled round eight match on Sunday.
Lisa Cochrane scored Maitland’s only goal in the 23rd minute with a header from a corner to secure the three points for the Magpies.
Maitland remain in fifth place on the competition table following the win but are now just two points behind fourth-placed Newcastle Olympic.
With an extra three points in hand, Maitland’s fight for a top four spot continues.
“We have three games remaining and obviously we’ll be aiming for the nine points to give ourselves the best shot at playing finals,” Maitland coach David Walker said.
“Obviously we need to rely on some results going our way for that to happen and had we got a result against Charlestown, Olympic or Broadmeadow in the last month or just one extra win somewhere, we would have been in a slightly better position.”
Despite getting the win the midweek thrashing of New Lambton depleted Maitland’s energy supplies and the score suffered.
“It wasn’t a bad performance and the team executed what we needed to but we were probably a little bit flat as a result of playing midweek and in cold, windy conditions,” Walker said.
“I felt we spent the majority of our time with possession in the opposition’s half but it just didn’t equate to goals today.”
Middies remain in seventh place on the table on 10 points, 10 points behind sixth-placed Adamstown.
“I think defensively it was a pretty good effort considering we still had some key players out,” Mid Coast coach Mick Grass said.
“The players that came in really stood up and did a good job from a defensive standpoint but we are still struggling to get much of a roll on possession.”
Regardless of the loss Grass was overall pleased with his squad’s effort in the game.
“In the end it was a set piece that was the different which was a little bit disappointing,” Grass said.
“We should be able to stand up a little bit better against set pieces but I’m not too disappointed with the effort overall.”
Maitland will host Adamstown at Cooks Square Park for their round 19 fixture while Mid Coast will travel to Darling Street Oval to take on Newcastle Olympic.