The Olympia Warriors avenged last weekend's cup loss, as they overcame the Kingborough Lions 5-2 in atrocious conditions at Warrior Park on Sunday.
A early goal set the tone for the match, with the Lions unable to claw their way back into a match dictated by the home side. Clinical in front of goal and commanding in the centre of the park, this wasn’t going to be a day the Warriors were going to lose a lead.
Olympia were clinical quickly and took the lead on 2 minutes. Moving the ball up the park as if gliding on ice, Darci Quinn had space on the left side to put in a dangerous low cross through the face of goal. In a moment of napping by the defence, Raffaella Puli was left all alone at the far post and finished off the opportunity to bring the game to life.
It was a tough day at the office for the Lions midfield without Zoe Horgan, and they spent the first half outnumbered in the middle, with the only way they looked capable of clawing back a goal through a free kick or long range shot.
Olympia were dominating and quickly found two more goals. In the 20th minute, Heather Russell produced a cheeky lob of the ball to put it into the path of Bonnie Davies. The winger clearly had her eye in for goal and she finished the chance clinically. Soon after Puli bagged her second of the match, again cleaning up the scraps at the far post after the initial Olivia Bomford free kick didn’t look too dangerous.
Minutes after the scoreline had blown out to 3-0 in the home sides favour, Laura Davis produced the goods. Given the opportunity of a one on one with Sophie Leszczynski, the Lions’ forward wrestled her way around the centre back and cooly slotted a shot low and hard into the back of the net. The goal breathed some hope into the match for her side, while leaving Farrow with no chance in the Warriors net.
With a two goal buffer, the Warriors allowed the Lions to play at them for the rest of the half, almost to their detriment. One last opportunity was denied by Jenna Farrow spectacularly reaching Hannah Manuela’s lopping header that was aiming for just under the crossbar.
With some residual feeling perhaps lingering after last week's Semi Final, the tackles in the second half were flying in. Accordingly, the Slice of Cheese got a work out, seeing the Lions pick up three bookings during the proceedings. All three were up the wrong end of the park to claim it was for reasons of saving a goal.
A few efforts looked threatening by both sides, with the Lions parking more players in the midfield so the Warriors didn’t completely have it all their way. However on the hour mark it was a classy finish by Davies that shook off any nerves of not finishing this match off. Again moving the ball with ease out of defence to the other end of the field, Davies was picked out in space in behind her fullback, and produced a finish worthy of the build up.
With Kingborough in search for another goal half chances came their way, but finding the key to unlock Olympia’s defence or getting the ball past Farrow was proving difficult. Rather it was a solo effort up the other end of the field by Madison Chambers extending the Warriors lead, with a shot pummelled into the back of the net leaving little doubt it was a goal.
Not one to go down without a fight, the Lions fought until the end to find something in the face of a 5-1 loss. In the dying stages, Davis caused havoc in the penalty area for Innocent Michael to come in hastily from behind. A penalty was given and Davis had no problem hitting the far corner from the spot, placing it just out of reach from Farrow from what proved the last kick of the match.
It was an entirely different affair than last weekend’s Cup semi-final, with the Olympia side never looking in trouble of losing their lead. While Kingborough will be hoping to bounce back quickly from this match, and find their shape again in midfield for next weekend’s Cup decider against Zebras.
https://youtu.be/YmXAeod9BOY