Match of the Round
Adamstown Rosebud 4-2 Newcastle Olympic
Adamstown Rosebud coach Martin Slade was ecstatic after his side defeated Newcastle Olympic 4-2 at Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility on Saturday night to secure just their second win of the season.
Newcastle Olympic hit the ground running and the early pressure paid off in the 18th minute when Zora Boskovski whipped a perfect long ball into the box.
Adamstown goalkeeper Olivia Sneddon got a hand to Boskovski’s delivery, but it bounced behind her and, after a scramble in the goalmouth, Olympic’s Maddy Howard tapped the loose ball into the back of the net.
Howard doubled her side’s lead in the 23rd minute after rounding the Adamstown defence and making her way to the top of the box.
Sneddon made a fantastic save to deny Howard’s first attempt, but the ball deflected back into her path, and she chipped it over the Adamstown goalkeeper and into the net.
Newcastle Olympic continued to search for a third goal with momentum on their side, but Sneddon continued to deny them as the half wore on, with Adamstown heading into the sheds trailing 2-0.
Olympic entered the second half determined to extend their lead, but Adamstown continued what they have done all season and fought their way back into the match.
Sophia Laurie played the ball into the path of Georgia Cook, who, from near the sideline, launched a shot over Olympic goalkeeper Isabella Aquilina and into the far side of the net in the 62nd minute.
Adamstown equalised just five minutes later when Marry Ntsweng stepped past the Olympic defence inside the box and fired a left-footed strike into the bottom-left corner.
Olympic attempted to regain the lead, but persistent defending from the Buds made that increasingly difficult as the game went on.
Adamstown took the lead for the first time in the match in the 81st minute when Ntsweng surged forward unmarked and lifted the ball over Aquilina and into the back of the net.
Substitute Ash Vetter brought fresh energy after entering the match in the 82nd minute and made an immediate impact. Three minutes later, Evie Horgan sent a free kick into the box and, after another scramble in front of goal, Vetter tapped the ball home.
The two late goals were enough for Adamstown to claim a 4-2 victory and create a gap between themselves and Charlestown Azzurri at the bottom of the table.
“It’s unreal, especially the circumstances to get that win being 2-nil down at half-time,” Slade said.
“There's something about this group that when they play and they can score, they come back. If you give a team energy, and you give a team oxygen, they can just go and go, and go, and go and that's ultimately everything I've said all year that has happened against us, we've now done to somebody else.
“So, I'm ecstatic, the girls work so, so hard.”
Slade credited the victory to his side’s hard work and desire to fight until the very end.
“We had a bit of a tactical change at half-time. We changed things up a little bit, but ultimately it just came down to the players' efforts,” Slade said.
“I can talk to them until the cows come home but ultimately, if they don't believe in what we’re doing then it's fallen on deaf ears. So, credit to them, they are the ones that made it happen.
“I'm super proud of them and I think it's just a good account of what we can do as a football club.”
Newcastle Olympic coach Jacob Jones believed a strong first-half performance was undone by mistakes after the break.
“Our first half was really, really good. We were really in control, and then the second half got away from us,” Jones said.
“Just the mistakes with defensive agility and things like that, we unfortunately couldn't compete.
“Adamstown came out strong in the second half, but I feel like we made it a little bit too easy for them. We gave them a lot of possession in our half.
“We worked a lot this week on playing through the lines and breaking down teams, and I felt in the first half we did that really well and created a lot of chances.
“Even in the second half, I felt that we still created three or four really good opportunities that we probably should have scored from. If we had players at the back post, hit the target and been more clinical in front of goal, we could have done something.
“But I was happy with us in possession. I thought we were pretty good and, for the most part, Adamstown struggled to contain us out of possession.
“We just let them have too much space and time in dangerous areas.”
Both teams will now have a week off, with neither side having a rescheduled match during the washout weekend.
Lake Macquarie City FC v New Lambton FC
This match was postponed due to wet weather conditions and will be played Tuesday 2 June at 8pm.
Broadmeadow Magic v Maitland FC
This match was postponed due to wet weather conditions and will be played Wednesday 3 June at 6.15pm.
Bye - Charlestown Azzurri