It was puffer jackets aplenty at football grounds throughout Sydney this week as June’s wintry blast continues terrorising all and sundry across the city. Never fear though – grab a hot chocolate or a cup of soup and join Beyond 90 as we take you through another Match of the Round!
This week the action takes us to the Northern Beaches as 2020 NPLW NSW champions Manly United host a resurgent Bankstown City in a mid-season six-pointer.
Manly United vs Bankstown City
An incredible second-half display from Manly United saw the defending champions jump into fourth place on the NPL Women’s NSW ladder after their 5-1 win against Bankstown City at Cromer Park on Sunday afternoon.
Goals to Emily Minett, Phoebe Gilbane, Tegan Biasi, Maddison Zahra and Caitlin Jarvie saw the Northern Beaches side overhaul Emily Condon’s first goal in Bankstown City colours to register its first home win since April.
Missing goalkeeper Brianna Edwards due to under-20 international duty, Bankstown handed a first-ever NPL Women’s NSW start to back-up stopper Stephanie Grimbilos, and the young stopper was the first to be tested, diving sharply to her right and stopping Nicole Stewart’s powerful drive after 20 minutes.
Bankstown responded in kind 12 minutes later with an opportunity of their own, as Emily Condon pounced on a horrible defensive lapse from Manly goalkeeper Nicole Simonsen – whose bewildering, mis-hit clearance barely escaped the penalty area – to register her first goal in City colours.
Condon had an opportunity to double her tally shortly before the break from a long-distance free kick, but Simonsen atoned for her earlier error, punching clear from the near post.
Trailing at half-time 0-1, Tom Hopley must have worked some prosaic magic in the home change-room, because his Manly side came out with renewed vigour to start the second 45 in the most positive way possible. Midfielder Minett ran onto a poor first touch from Emma Stanbury, hitting a gorgeous dink first-time over the unaware Grimbilos to level the scores.
Barely three minutes later United took the lead through Gilbane, whose angled run onto Zahra’s inswinging corner had her best-placed amongst a host of Bankstown defenders to bury a header and put her side ahead.
And Manly would have their third just after the hour mark, again from a corner, as Tegan Biasi’s front-post run left four Bankstown defenders trailing in her wake, powerless to stop her rolling her shot inside the near post to double their advantage.
Grimbilos’ evening would only get worse after she made a Simonsen-level error in judgement, spilling substitute Alexia Forner’s weak shot into the path of Minett, only to clip her from behind and concede a penalty, which Zahra had no trouble in dispatching with 15 minutes to play.
They always say to leave the best till last, and Manly did just that, with Jarvie’s stunning chipped goal on 86 minutes the pick of the bunch. Trailing a duel between Minett and Bankstown defender Tiana Jaber, Jarvie timed her intervention perfectly, strolling onto the ball knocked loose in the tackle, whipping a right-footed shot over Grimbilos and inside the far side netting. The stunning fifth goal capped off a ridiculous second-half display, the likes of which we will rarely see again.
Manly United 5 (Minett 46’ Gilbane 48’ Biasi 66’ Zahra 76’p Jarvie 86’)
Bankstown City 1 (Condon 32’)
Manly United: Nicole Simonsen; Nicole Stuart, Phoebe Gilbane, Corinne Winkler, Polly Doran; Jane Vanzino (Alexia Forner 67’), Meisha Westland, Caitlin Jarvie; Maddison Zahra (Sophie Clarke 87’), Emily Minett, Tegan Biasi.
Subs not used: Emily Bastow, Nicola Simmons, Jemima Lockley.
Yellow cards: None.
Bankstown City: Stephanie Grimbilos; Stephanie Ambrose, Liana Danaskos, Emma Stanbury (Baxter Thew 55’), Tiana Jaber; Demi Koulizakis (Alexia Karrys-Stahl 74’), Olivia Price, Emily Condon; Siobhan Edwards, Paige Hayward, Daisy Arrowsmith (Georgia Plessas 60’).
Subs not used: Skye Casacchia, Kate McPherson.
Yellow cards: None.
Around the Grounds
Macarthur Rams 1 Sydney University 1 at Lynwood Park
Northern Tigers 3 Illawarra Stingrays 1 at North Turramurra Rec Area
Sydney Olympic 4 Football NSW Institute 0 at Peter Moore Field
APIA Leichhardt 1 Emerging Jets 0 at Lambert Park
NW Sydney Spirit vs Blacktown Spartans at Christie Park – postponed (22 June)
| Team | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | |
| 1 | Northern Tigers | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 22 | 11 | +11 | 22 |
| 2 | Sydney University | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 5 | +7 | 18 |
| 3 | Sydney Olympic | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 22 | 9 | +13 | 17 |
| 4 | Macarthur Rams | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 17 | 9 | +8 | 17 |
| 5 | Manly United | 10 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 20 | 14 | +6 | 15 |
| 6 | Blacktown Spartans | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 5 | +5 | 14 |
| 7 | APIA Leichhardt | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 16 | 13 | +3 | 14 |
| 8 | Bankstown City | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 17 | 18 | -1 | 11 |
| 9 | Illawarra Stingrays | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 15 | -5 | 8 |
| 10 | Football NSW Institute | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 11 | -6 | 6 |
| 11 | NWS Spirit | 9 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 10 | 26 | -16 | 4 |
| 12 | Emerging Jets | 9 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 32 | -25 | 1 |
Read more of our NSW NPL coverage here.
