Match of the Round
Warners Bay FC v New Lambton FC
John Street Oval, Sunday 4pm
New Lambton coach Greg Lowe is viewing Sunday’s clash with Warners Bay as the perfect opportunity for his side to secure its first win of the season.
The Golden Eagles arrive at John Street Oval much improved on last season. While they are yet to earn a victory, New Lambton have secured a goalless draw against Adamstown and relatively narrow defeats against competition heavyweights Broadmeadow, Charlestown and Maitland.
Scoring goals has been New Lambton’s biggest issue, with Tara Pender’s 79th minute effort against Magic in round one their only goal in their first four matches so far.
But Warners Bay could be the perfect opponent for New Lambton to turn around their goal scoring woes, with the Panthers having conceded 66 goals in their first five matches.
Lowe was confident his side would turn up well prepared mentally.
“I’m expecting the girls to treat it like every other week. We’ve worked pretty hard on the defensive unit, now we’ve got to start putting some goals in the net,” Lowe said.
“I’m very confident in the team we have. I feel like we have the ability to beat most teams in the comp. I’ve basically told the girls that Warners Bay are no different to any other week and we need to do the best we can to get a result.
“The mentality we have and want to create is win at all costs. Warners Bay on paper looks like three points but they absolutely shouldn’t be underestimated.”
New Lambton have added depth to their defence this season, with four former Panthers to line up against their former club on Sunday.
Experienced title-winning goalkeeper Ally Boertje and defenders Serena Carter, Airlie Davis and Amy Gosling have been handy acquisitions. And with Newcastle Jets players Cass Davis and Lauren Allen to return within the next month, Lowe and his side hope to be climbing the table.
“We recruited heavily, particularly in our defensive unit,” Lowe said.
“We signed a new goalkeeper and some experienced defenders. We do have Lauren and Cass coming back from Jets duty as well who will add a lot of experience.
“We’re also going to get Sarah Moore back from her foot ligament injury hopefully in early May. She played with APIA [Leichhardt] last year and I feel like when she plays she’s going to be one of the best strikers in the competition.
“We’ve been so close to having some fantastic results. I tell the girls to look for the positives every week. If we don’t get the three points we work harder in training the next week. If you break the games down, we lost 2-0 to Maitland and they only had two shots in the box.
“We lost 3-0 to Azzurri but we missed three one on ones in the first half. Magic was the same thing, we missed two open goals. It’s a case of if we put away our chances earlier in the game then those games completely change.”
New Lambton hope to welcome back attacking player Ameera Makunja from a hip flexor injury, while Pender made her return from a hamstring strain in the 2-1 defeat to Broadmeadow in the Women’s League Cup on Wednesday night.
Warners Bay coach Ryan Swinkels said his side were focused on themselves and trying to take the positives from each game.
“We only look at ourselves. And that comes down to our effort, intensity and our drive to get the best performance we can possibly achieve,” Swinkels said.
“For us it’s more trying to get the positives out of games. A good result for us is to keep the score as close as possible to try and achieve something at the end of the game. We don’t want to open ourselves up to conceding on counter attacks, we need a solid defensive base to build on.”
Warners Bay are a vastly different side to the one that took out the premiership-championship double last season, with the Panthers losing coach Craig Atkins and all but one of their entire senior squad to other clubs.
The positive is that Swinkels has been able to hand first grade chances to young players hungry for an opportunity.
“Our start has got a lot to do with young players getting their first opportunities in first grade,” Swinkels said.
“The majority of our squad are 18 or 19, maybe a couple towards 21. A lot of them only have three or four matches of first grade experience. It’s their first time in first grade understanding the intensity and what the pressure is like, how much they have to work and how different it is to reserve grade.
“The biggest thing for me is developing these players long term so they aren’t just a flash in the pan. They can be first graders for 10 years and make a good career at this level or even higher. Because they’re so young they can do that.”
Young defenders Isobel Givens and Ella Murphy and attacking player Callie Thomas are just three of Warners Bay’s young players that Swinkels has seen vast improvements in already.
“For me there are three or four that are coming through from when we first saw them at the start of the season. There has been a big intensity push from doing three sessions per week,” Swinkels said.
“You can see from the girls who are turning up all the time they are proving themselves in that space. Callie is scoring goals, Ella Murphy came up from the Central Coast and is doing well and Isobel played in the under-17s last year and now she’s a starting first grade centre back and is developing really nicely.”
Warners Bay could have another new face in their squad this weekend having completed the signing of midfielder Bethany Hogg from the Central Coast.
Newcastle Olympic v Adamstown Rosebud JFC
Darling Street Oval, Sunday 4pm
Newcastle Olympic will host Adamstown Rosebud for the second time in a week on Sunday, with Olympic hoping for a similar result.
Olympic downed Adamstown 6-1 in their Women’s League Cup quarter-final at Darling Street Oval on Monday to advance to the semi-finals.
Elodie Dagg scored a hat-trick while Marion Dunbabin scored twice. Jemma House was also on the scoresheet for Olympic, while Josie Morley celebrated her return from the Newcastle Jets with Adamstown’s only goal.
Olympic are second on the table, five points behind Charlestown, though Olympic have a game in hand against New Lambton following the postponement of their round five fixture.
Adamstown have had a mixed start to the season with two wins, two losses and a draw from their opening five matches to sit fifth, two points behind Maitland.
Rosebud will need to tighten up defensively having conceded 16 goals in their last four games, with one of those matches a goalless draw against New Lambton.
Maitland FC v Mid Coast FC
Cooks Square Park, Sunday 4pm
Maitland will look to continue their good run of form when they host Mid Coast on Sunday.
The Magpies have won three matches in a row to sit fourth on the table. They return to Cooks Square Park for the first time since their impressive 5-2 victory over competition heavyweights Broadmeadow a fortnight ago.
It was a statement victory for Keelan Hamilton’s side, who have since added experienced midfielder Keely Gawthrop to their squad following her departure from Newcastle Olympic.
Maitland will be without American defender Sawyer Hall who has returned to the US and, with captain Tahlia Gossner having suffered a serious ankle injury, the Magpies will need to find other solutions in defence.
Mid Coast will be buoyant from securing their first win of the campaign last time out having thrashed Warners Bay 8-1.
The victory saw Middies climb up to sixth, with a second win in a row to help them climb even further away from the foot of the table with Warners Bay and New Lambton also meeting on Sunday.
The match will double as the Women’s League Cup fixture between the sides after the original quarter-final tie was postponed last Friday due to an unplayable pitch at Taree Zone Field caused by wet weather.
The winning side will advance to the semi-finals and secure the three NPLW NNSW competition points. A draw would see the teams share one point each, with the cup tie to be determined by penalty shootout.
Broadmeadow Magic v Charlestown Azzurri
Magic Park, Sunday 4pm
Broadmeadow coach Jake Curley has his Magic squad as close to full strength as it has been all season ahead of their clash with top of the table Charlestown on Sunday.
Azzurri arrive at Magic Park with a perfect record to start the campaign having won all their opening five matches to sit five points clear at the summit.
Only Keziah White remains unavailable for Broadmeadow, though the midfielder is expected back imminently from a long-term knee injury.
It gives Curley not just more options in terms of personnel but also in how they can approach each match.
“Last year we had issues because we lost a lot of central midfielders,” Curley said.
“So we had to play a different way and essentially bypass midfield to get to the highest line. We couldn’t really play with sixes because we had no continuity in selection. Now we’ve got a bunch of very good sixes so we can play through to our 10s and into the wide areas.
“Kobie Ferguson, Kirstyn Antoni who is usually a centre back but is very affective in there, Jen Reeves, Maddison Dean and Kez White. We’ve got so many options now.
“I’m looking forward to Sunday. Azzurri have a good squad as well and have been doing well. It’s the closest we’ve been to full strength. We’ve got a bit of depth now. It’s just working on the girls executing well.”
One issue Broadmeadow have had is around discipline, with a Magic player sent off in each of its last three league matches.
Broadmeadow will have Adriana Konjarski available after she served her one-match suspension in the 2-1 victory over New Lambton in the Women’s League Cup on Wednesday night, though Curley said the message had been delivered loud and clear to his squad.
“I’ve had a conversation about it because players getting red cards impacts our squad selection. You can’t have players playing the same position every week because with a red card you have to change it up a bit,” Curley said.
“They’ve been told what I will accept yellow cards for and what I won’t. AJ should have got red carded, she went a bit silly at the end [against Maitland]. Kiarra [Lewis] was the same. [Antoni] was the same thing, she lost her cool.
“I like players that play with a bit of spice and that’s part of our team and the way we play. But do it in a way that it doesn’t impact us the following week. And the girls accepted that too, they all realise it’s great that we play the way we play but we also need to maintain our composure.”
Magic also have former goalkeeper Alison Logue back to replace young No.1 Ruby Jones, who has stepped away from football after suffering a head knock.