Adamstown may have won comfortably on the scoresheet but coach Ben Herron felt anything but comfortable throughout their Herald Women’s Premier League 3-1 victory over Thornton at Thornton Park today.
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Thornton upset defending champions Merewether 1-0 last weekend and today led the runaway league leaders 1-0 at the break after Naomi Abbott scored with a close-range header midway through the first half.
Jets player Rhali Dobson scored a second-half hat-trick to give Adamstown the 3-1 win and to continue their unbeaten form this season but Herron was unimpressed with his side’s performance.
“It was terribly frustrating today,” Herron said post-match.
“In the first half we played poorly and there were so many fundamental errors.
“I am going to be telling the girls this week that a lot of them have been put on notice because some of the girls are just off the pace at the moment.
“I’ll be telling them they have to aim up or I’ll be making wholesale changes.”
Warners Bay coach Leon Davis said his side finally “had some luck” as they beat second-placed Wallsend 3-2 in a fast-paced, entertaining match at John St Oval.
Wallsend were the first to score, when Jenna Kingsley carried the ball deep into Warners Bay territory before cutting the ball across the face of goal for Casey Smith to tap on to Shannon Day, who finished from close range at the back post midway through the half.
Warners Bay hit back shortly after when Sass Seaborn drove into the box at pace with the ball, stepped around oncoming Wallsend goalkeeper Beck Saunders and finished from close range into an open goal.
The hosts then took a 2-1 lead with five minutes left in the first half when Nadja Squires got on the end of an Airlie Davis corner and finished from close range with her first touch.
Jets player Cassidy Davis extended the home side’s lead to 3-1 20 minutes into the second half when she picked up the ball just outside the 18-yard box, ran into the box then drilled the ball into the top of the net.
Smith closed the gap to 3-2 for Wallsend shortly after then Alice Munro came painstakingly close to levelling the game for the visitors in the last minute of the match when her shot hit the crossbar and bounced straight down but did not cross the goal line.
“If that had happened in other games this season it probably would’ve gone in, but we finally got some luck,” Warners Bay coach Leon Davis said.
“I thought it was a really good game, and a really good promotion for women’s football.
“We have similar playing styles and both play with fast and quick attack.”
Davis said former Emerging Jets player Jemma House would “add value” after some promising signs in her first hit-out for Warners Bay today. House returned from playing football in the United States during the week and played a full game today.
Merewether beat South Wallsend 2-1 at Myamblah Oval after trailing 1-0 at the break.
Former Jets player Maddy Searl scored just minutes before the break for South Wallsend but United sealed the win with goals through captain Lori Depcynzski and Sophie Jones in the second half.
Jones, who returned to Merewether from Wallsend during the week, went off late in the game with a suspected broken ankle.
South Wallsend player Gabbie Deacon was taken from the field in an ambulance at the end of the game with a suspected broken collarbone. Deacon missed several early games this season with the same injury and has only been back in action in recent weeks.
Merewether coach Cassie Koppen said her side needs to show “more aggression and desire to win from the start”.
“I don’t think we played poorly, I think we just allowed them too much time on the ball,” Koppen said.
“We need to start switching on from the first whistle so we aren’t chasing the game.
“But full credit to the girls for the character they showed because we have come through a rough trot in recent weeks and we have been under a lot of pressure this year; hopefully this is a bit of a turning point.”
Herald WPL Round 11 results: Warners Bay 3 (Sass Seaborn, Nadja Squires, Cassidy Davis) defeated Wallsend 2 (Shannon Day, Casey Smith) at John St Oval; Merewether 2 (Lori Depczynski, Sophie Jones) defeated South Wallsend 1 (Maddy Searl) at Myamblah Oval; Adamstown 3 (Rhali Dobson 3) defeated Thornton 1 (Naomi Abbott) at Thornton Park.
Herald WPL points table: Adamstown 28, Wallsend 18, Merewether 17, Warners Bay 14, Thornton 9, South Wallsend 5, Mid North Coast 2.