Welcome to the Weekend Washup for another week as we take a look back at the pair of games played out in the MyState Bank Women’s Super League this past weekend. With the Taroona v South Hobart game postponed due to the wild weather, we had just the two fixtures for the round taking place. On Friday night it was the Zebras who ensured the Lions wait for a top 4 scalp would continue with a comfortable 3-1 win before the Strikers took care of the improving Warriors with a 5-0 win on Saturday afternoon.
Zebras Hold Off Lions in Safari Derby
The Clarence Zebras made it 3 wins from 3 games this season against the Kingborough Lions, as they accounted for the hosts 3-1 on Friday Night at Clennett’s Lightwood Park.
Slow starts have plagued the Lions this season and they found themselves in an early hole when Eliza Wylie bobbed up for the opening score inside the opening 10 minutes. From close range, she redirected a Georgia Burt cross, with the experienced midfielder setting her up expertly.
The Zebras second came via some of their experienced stars as Taylor Rand and Zoe Nichols combined to devastating effect. Rand played a sharp 1-2 with Nichols who expertly dissected the defence with the return pass on the non-preferred foot for Rand to run onto and fire home in style.
The Zebras couldn’t further extend that 2-0 lead despite generating some chances and then midway through the second half it was game on, when Danielle Kannegiesser continued her fine season and pulled a goal back. It’s been a tough season for the Lions this year, but week in week out Kannegiesser has been one of their most consistent performers and she really has put together a fantastic season on an individual level.
Kacee Ponting stuck up a hand to make a brilliant save to deny Laura Davis in the lead-up to the goal, but reacting first to the rebound was Kannegiesser who made no mistake with her follow-up effort to cut it back to 2-1.
It sparked the Lions and they began to push hard for a leveller, with some dangerous moments produced and a couple of key shots nicely blocked away by the Zebras defence. That period of Lions resurgence didn’t last long, however, as the talented young Eliana Diafokeris slammed the door shut 8 minutes later.
Taking advantage of a heavy touch right into her path at the top of the box, Diafokeris curled a first-time effort into the bottom corner of the net to make it 3-1. She has been one of the break-out players in the league this season and now has 10 goals in her last 10 WSL starts, an incredibly impressive effort at senior level for such a young footballer.
It saw the game ending 3-1 and leaves the Zebras in fourth place, within touching distance of the Strikers ahead of them in third. The Zebras will take on Taroona in their next match which should see them move up to 31 points before they finish their season by taking on the second and third-placed sides in South Hobart and Devonport. They will almost certainly need to win both of those games if they are to finish any higher than fourth place.
The Lions will have two more chances to get a win over a side above them when they face Launceston United and South Hobart and also have two more games that they will be expecting to win against the bottom two in their remaining schedule.
Strikers Sink Improving Warriors
In Saturday afternoon action it was a familiar story at Empire Couriers Park, as the Devonport Strikers secured a comfortable 5-0 win over the Olympia Warriors. Having fallen to the Strikers 8-0 at the same venue just a week earlier, this represented an improved effort from the Warriors who have been more competitive since adopting a more defensive approach in recent weeks. They were parked in deep here and frustrated the Strikers for large periods of the game before the dam walls eventually burst in the final 20 minutes.
You had to feel for Shelley Cook on the first goal after making a great save to deny Emily Smith only to see the rebound dispatched past her by Danielle Mitchell. Some marauding play from Georgia King at the back set up goal number 2, as she charged powerfully through the middle of the ground before sliding in Jazmin White who made no mistake with the finish.
It would be just the one goal for White in this match, which in goal-scoring terms is quiet by her ridiculous standards but she still played a prominent role in all three of her side’s second-half strikes.
The next goal wouldn’t arrive till 73 minutes in as the Warriors did a good job blocking shooting lanes and denying them space to play in around the penalty area. The game was on the Striker’s terms to be sure, but they weren’t cutting through with the same ease they did in the first 2 clashes with the Warriors.
The Warrios began to tire as the contest wore on though and the Strikers added another three goals in the space of 15 minutes to add some more emphasis to the final score.
A mazy run from White into the area drew the defence out and allowed Samantha Hardy to fire home her side’s third, before White drew a save from Cook on the fourth goal and the rebound was prodded home by Charlotte Vernham. The fifth and final came via a quality finish from Maddy Payne, finishing instinctively on the left foot after White’s cross into the area picked her out.
The Strikers attention will now turn to Launceston United and given the form they will be full of belief they can get a positive result, though even if they win next week, given they can reach a maximum of 41 points, it’s probably more South Hobart’s title chances they would be boosting rather than their own. United need to earn just 5 points from their 3 games against the bottom 3 in the final 3 games to become uncatchable by the Strikers, with South still looking the more likely benefactors should United slip in their final 3 games.