NPL Women’s NNSW Round 18 Review: Warners Bay place one hand on premiership following Magic thrashing
MATCH OF THE ROUND
WARNERS BAY FC 5-0 BROADMEADOW MAGIC FC
Warners Bay thrashed premiership rivals Broadmeadow Magic 5-0 on Sunday to place one hand on the inaugural NPL Women’s NNSW title.
The Panthers and Magic arrived at John Street Oval level on 43 points, with Warners Bay on top of the table thanks to their vastly superior goal difference.
Both had won one game each against the other in their two previous meetings this season, with the clash likely to go a long way towards deciding the premiership in what many predict could be a preview of the grand final.
Warners Bay dominated from the start, with the three points never looking in doubt for Craig Atkins’ side.
Tara Andrews opened the scoring for the hosts after three minutes before Newcastle Jets captain Cassidy Davis made it 2-0 in the 35th minute, giving the Panthers a two-goal advantage at half-time.
Davis got her second of the afternoon in the 58th minute to make it 3-0 before the competition’s leading goal scorer Adriana Konjarski added a fourth in the 78th minute.
Elodie Dagg completed Warners Bay’s tally in stoppage time to cap a perfect day for the Panthers with goals, a clean sheet, three points and one hand on the premiership.
Despite it being their third game in a week, Warners Bay proved why they are premiership favourites with Atkins praising his side for their brilliant execution.
“We had a game plan going into this afternoon and the girls executed that brilliantly,” Atkins said.
“It’s always a tough game going against Magic. You’ve got to be working hard for the 90 minutes and we had to work hard for the goals today. Nothing came easy to us.”
Atkins is willing his side to continue their momentum and finish the regular season strong before turning their attention to finals with Warners Bay three points clear at the top of the table.
“One of our goals was to get to the top and stay there,” Atkins said.
“We’ve still got a few games to go so we’re going to work hard and try and win those next few games.
“We’ll turn our attention to finals a little bit later. We’ve been talking about the intensity required for finals football and the response from the girls regarding that has been really good. They’ll watch that game back and really see what they can do when they play quality football.”
The loss was Magic’s biggest this season and came with an ankle injury to midfielder Nadja Squires in the 50th minute. Broadmeadow were also missing centre-back Kristyn Antoni.
Both sides now have a week off to allow time for postponed games to be made up.
Warners Bay will next face Charlestown Azzurri in round 19 while Broadmeadow will host New Lambton, with both matches on the weekend of 20-21 August.
MAITLAND FC 1-2 CHARLESTOWN AZZURRI FC
Charlestown Azzurri all but ended Maitland’s finals chances with a dramatic 2-1 win at Cooks Square Park on Saturday.
Sophie Jones opened the scoring for the Magpies in the 57th minute with a free kick to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.
But Azzurri came back and equalised in the 78th minute with a goal to Indianna Asimus.
Ash Gavin then sealed the win for the visitors in the dying minutes, nodding the ball in the net from a corner in the 90th minute.
It was the third game in a row in which Maitland had led a top-four side past the 70th minute only to lose all three matches in the dying stages following defeats to Newcastle Olympic and Broadmeadow.
Charlestown coach Niko Papaspiropoulos gave full credit to Maitland for a tough game but praised his side for getting the job done.
“As we expected and prepared for it was obviously a very tough game and to Maitland’s credit they played quite well,” Papaspiropoulos said.
“The effort and the work rate the girls showed to stick with it and stay in the game was great and we had a much more positive second half and we started to show signs of the football that we like to play.”
Azzurri remain third on the table, sitting on 32 points and having all but guaranteed themselves a top four finish.
But knowing how unpredictable the game can be, Papaspiropoulos and his squad are still taking it one game at a time.
“We still have four games to go so obviously we just need to focus on the upcoming games,” Papaspiropoulos said.
“We have a week off now so we’ll have a bit of extra time to prepare for our next game and we just want to focus on that and not get too far ahead of ourselves because anything can still happen.
“We don’t want to get too excited about [playing finals]. We just have to stay focused and disciplined for the remainder of the games ahead of us.”
Maitland will look to bounce back with a pair of rescheduled fixtures starting with their round 14 match with New Lambton on Wednesday night before hosting Mid Coast in their round eight fixture on Sunday.
Azzurri will enjoy the week off before hosting Warners Bay in round 19.
ADAMSTOWN ROSEBUD JFC 7-1 MID COAST FC
Adamstown Rosebud added an extra three points to their tally when they defeated Mid Coast 7-1 at Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility on Saturday night.
Adamstown are now sitting on 17 points, while Middies remain on 10.
Ellen Hughes scored herself a double in Rosebud’s win while Leia Puxty, Kimmy Trappett, Imanee Burke and Tayla Hammond also scored for Adamstown.
Tash Ruge scored late to get Mid Coast’s only goal of the game.
Mid Coast were without a significant number of first graders because of injury and illness, leading to a lack of personnel to take on Adamstown.
“We had six players who played reserve grade and then had to back up and play first grade so that takes a hell of a lot out of you,” Mid Coast coach Mick Grass said.
“Having to come down to Newcastle and play across two days didn’t really allow us to use any of our youth players in the senior squad to make up those numbers.
“When you’ve got injuries and sickness throughout the squad, which we’ve had a lot of recently, it makes it difficult to put on a performance that you really want to.”
With finals well and truly off the cards, Grass and his squad are turning their attention to maintaining standards and regaining consistency for the remainder of the season.
“We’re just trying to maintain some standards amongst the squad,” Grass said.
“We’ve probably let our standards slide both individually and as a group, not just on the field but off the field as well. We’re just going to try and regroup and pick those standards up again over the next month.”
For Adamstown coach Ryan Campbell, playing at Speers Point suited his sides style of play and proved key in scoring a number of goals.
“Overall the girls played well and scored some nice team goals,” Campbell said.
“The surface suited us as we can play a fast possession-based style and you know what you’re going to get with the roll of the ball.”
Adamstown will travel to Alder Park for their rescheduled round nine match against New Lambton on Saturday while Mid Coast will face Maitland in their rescheduled round eight match at Cooks Square Park on Sunday.
NEW LAMBTON FC 0-7 NEWCASTLE OLYMPIC FC
Newcastle Olympic took a huge step towards securing a finals place after they thrashed New Lambton 7-0 on Sunday.
Olympic remain fourth but moved to 30 points with the comfortable victory at Arthur Edden Oval, eight points clear of Maitland.
Chloe Hinde and Georgia Amos scored doubles while Paige Kingston-Hogg and Jemma House also got their names on the scoresheet.
Olympic’s seventh goal was a result of an Eagles own goal.
The win keeps Olympic within two points of third-placed Azzurri and, with Maitand’s defeat to Azzurri, looks to have all but sealed their place in the top four.
Newcastle Olympic coach Paul Devitis was proud of his squad’s dominant 90-minute performance.
“I thought it was a very dominant performance and we controlled possession for 90 minutes which is what we’ve been trying to do,” Devitis said.
“We were very patient on the ball, we weren’t too fussed about the score line, we just wanted to keep possession and try a few different things and overall I’m very happy with the outcome.”
Despite a top four finish looking more and more likely for Olympic, Devitis was not willing to rest and knows how important the remaining games are.
“I think the girls are smart enough to know that any win now is important,” Devitis said.
“We were coming off a tough week where we lost to Warners Bay and Magic, so we just knew we had to rebuild.
“The atmosphere within the group was really good considering the week we had and it was a good opportunity for me to give players more minutes that needed to get the extra minutes in.”
New Lambton host Maitland in their rescheduled round 14 match on Wednesday night before welcoming Adamstown to Alder Park in their rescheduled round nine match on Saturday.
Olympic will enjoy a week off before welcoming Mid Coast to Darling Street in round 19.