Match of the Round
Lake Macquarie City FC 0-4 Maitland FC
Maitland FC coach Ben Horgan said his side was relentless in their dominant 4-0 victory over Lake Macquarie City FC at Macquarie Field on Sunday afternoon.
The two sides hit the ground running with both teams having a shot on target within the first two minutes.
But it was Maitland who broke first in the 18th minute as Georgia Amess weaved down the right side of the pitch into the box where she found Renee Pountney who found the back of the net.
The end-to-end contest continued as the Magpies looked to extend their lead and Lakes searched for an equaliser.
Ceanna Frost looked to double Maitland’s lead but was denied by Lakes goalkeeper Imogene Tomasone.
But Amess reacted quickly to the loose ball after the save, getting onto the scraps of the blocked shot and tapping it into the goal in the 36th minute.
Frost soon found the goal she had been searching for in the 38th minute, getting onto the end of a cross from Pountney and sending the ball over Tomasone into the middle of the net.
Despite the Roosters best efforts Maitland’s strong backline continued to deny them, sending Lakes into the sheds trailing 3-0.
Frost grabbed her second of the evening in the 48th minute, controlling a pass from Natalia O’Driscoll before launching a strike from the top of the box.
O’Driscoll searched for a goal of her own in the 59th minute but was denied by an outstanding effort from Tomasone before Jorja Brown cleared the final ball.
Lake Macquarie began the final 10 minutes down to 10 players after Alyssa Togo-Paragalli was forced off through injury, before being reduced to nine in the final two minutes when Emily Loader Weston also went down injured.
Despite Lakes being reduced to nine players, the Magpies were unable to score a fifth and walked away with a 4-0 victory.
“I'm really pleased. The effort and the determination just to deal with the conditions was amazing,” Horgan said.
“We've got a style of football that we really want to play, and we just said regardless of the slowness of the pitch or the temperature or whatever else, we're going to stick to that and we'll make it work.
“We knew today, having good subs, we could have some fresh energy in the second half. So, we just said to everyone ‘give what you got for as long as you can and we'll make changes when we need to’.
“Early in the second half, we got that fourth goal and I think everyone on the pitch was pretty spent by then, but we knew we'd done enough, and the girls are pretty happy now.
“We were just relentless. We had some discussions about how we would play and we'd seen they [Lake Macquarie City] had that sort of diamond, so we had to adapt a little bit without the ball.
“But we back, Georgie [Georgia Amess] and CC [Ceanna Frost] against anyone, one v one. So, we just knew that if we can find them in space and especially if there's a little bit of space in behind, you know, they're not going to win every one v one battle, but they're going to win more than their fair share.
“When they do, they get into really good areas and it ends up with a cross, or a shot, or something happening.”
Lakes coach Gabrielle Blanch acknowledge that the loss reflected an intensity problem amongst the squad rather than a football problem after allowing Maitland players too much space.
“Maitland is obviously a really good football team. That's the standard that we want to be able to come up against every weekend and I think they were good, but I think we also made them look good in a lot of patches of that game,” Blanch said.
“That was the conversation [allowing too much space] at half-time. It's not a football problem; it's more of an effort and an intensity problem.
“I thought, to be fair to the girls, that we picked up our act a little bit in the second half, but it was probably just too late.
“They're strong, they're determined. I think a lot of the girls getting through those 90 minutes today, they are not going to want to feel like that again. We've got enough leadership and maturity in the group to be able to pull ourselves together.
“To be honest, if we're going to have a game like that, I'd rather do it now and iron out the kinks and understand what it is that leads to that happening.
“We still know that we are capable of playing good football and we go again next week.”
Lakes will travel to Lisle Carr Oval on Sunday afternoon to face Charlestown Azzurri, while Maitland will look to continue their undefeated streak against Newcastle Olympic on Saturday afternoon.
Adamstown Rosebud JFC 2-2 Charlestown Azzurri
Charlestown Azzurri coach Alicia Ferguson said she is proud of her side for securing their first point of the season when they drew 2-2 with Adamstown Rosebud JFC on Friday night.
It was an Azzurri side unlike the one usually seen this season, as they pushed high in search of their first goal of the season.
But it appeared that Adamstown would take an early lead in the 11th minute before the goal was ruled offside.
The moment Charlestown had waited three matches for finally came in the 33rd minute after Ellie Jones whipped the corner into the box and Erica Di Sciascio rose above the sea of players to head the ball into the back of the net.
Adamstown pushed to find an equaliser before half-time but were sent into the sheds trailing 1-0.
The Blues entered the second stanza full of confidence as they pushed hard for a second goal, and it paid off in the 64th minute.
Captain Chloe Martin launched the ball from halfway into the 18-yard box as Aoife Redman won a scramble for the ball and tapped it into the back of the net.
The Buds netted one of their own in the 77th minute after Ash Vetter unleashed a powerful hit from outside the box and into the net.
Azzurri looked to be claiming their first win of the season as they entered stoppage time leading 2-1 but a foul on Buds Tanya Jones in the box saw Adamstown awarded a penalty.
Jones stepped up to the penalty spot and calmly converted it to equalise.
Adamstown had a chance to clinch the lead in the dying moments but were unable to capitalise on an empty goal and were forced to share the spoils in a second half comeback.
“I felt really proud of all the players and a huge sense of relief [when Azzurri scored] as well because I feel like it's been a bit of a grind for everyone and we've definitely been making improvements but to at least know that we can put the ball in the back of the net is awesome,” Ferguson said.
“Aoife Redmond, a youngster who skipped reserves and came into first grade because of our situation, her getting her first goal was epic. I was super proud, it was just great.
“It was so windy, so in the first half we had the wind in our back and all the balls were just flying past and then in the second half, pretty much anything in the air would just stop and stand still.
“They were pretty challenging conditions and it was the first time we played on the new synthetic as well. Overall, I was just really proud of all the players, and everyone's just trying to continue with the positivity and look at how we have improved.
“I'm really happy.”
Azzurri will now look to go one better and lock in their first win of the season when they welcome Lake Macquarie City FC to Lisle Carr Oval on Sunday afternoon. Adamstown will serve the bye.
Newcastle Olympic 1-3 Broadmeadow Magic
Saturday afternoon saw Broadmeadow Magic secure their first win of the season with a confident 3-1 victory over Newcastle Olympic.
Magic came out of the gates full of fire as they hunted to open the scoring with an immediate attempt on goal.
Olympic responded quickly with an attempt of their own, but with both sides unable to find the back of the net, an end-to-end contest unfolded.
But in the 32nd minute, Broadmeadow Magic broke through when Amanda Young used her pace to get onto a long pass before shooting from just outside the box, chipping Olympic goalkeeper Isabella Aquilina and finding the back of the net.
Olympic were unable to claw one back before half-time as they went into the sheds trailing 1-0.
Magic’s Wimberly Wright doubled her side’s lead in the 53rd minute as she rounded Olympic defender Sarah King to find the top right corner.
Olympic reduced the deficit to 2-1 just moments later when Kate Heap charged into Magic’s 18-yard box and sliced the ball into the bottom right corner.
But Broadmeadow were determined to score another, and the moment came when Tori Johnson scored her first goal of the season in the 81st minute to secure her side’s 3-1 victory.
Olympic will look to bounce back to winning ways when they welcome Maitland FC to Darling Street Oval on Saturday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Broadmeadow will look to keep the good times rolling when they go head-to-head with New Lambton FC at Magic Park.
Bye - New Lambton FC