The weather may be cooling down in NSW, but the NPL action is heating up! Sunday’s six NSW NPL contests saw attacking football, acrobatic saves and goals worthy of gracing any highlights compilation.
Our Match of the Round involved the teams from the epic 2017 Grand Final, as Manly United made the long, long trip to Lynwood Park for their clash with Macarthur Rams.
Macarthur Rams v Manly United
On Sunday evening, Macarthur Rams ended a three game winless run with a 2-0 triumph over Manly United. Second half strikes from Patty Charalambous and Bethany Gordon sent the Rams to their fourth win of 2022, while for Manly it was their first defeat of the campaign.
High pressing was the name of the game in the early stages, and Gordon shot wide from 30 yards in the fourth minute after the Rams forced a turnover. A minute later Manly forward Emily Minett stole possession and found Maddison Zahra, but she couldn’t repeat her long range heroics of previous rounds, firing over the crossbar.
From about the 20 minute mark, Macarthur started to take control. Midway through the first half, Laura Murtagh played a one-two with Melissa Caceres on the right side and crossed, but Leena Khamis was stopped by a combination of Phoebe Gilbane and Nicole Simonsen. Then on 27 minutes, Gordon floated a pass over the top for Murtagh – Simonsen made a good save, and from the rebound Murtagh laid the ball off for Caceres to shoot wide. The Rams continued to find joy on the right flank and in the 33rd minute Holly Williams played a pinpoint cross towards Khamis, who fired off target under pressure from Polly Doran.
Manly would begin to gain a foothold in proceedings and their main outlet was Tegan Biasi, rewarded for her Round 7 performance against APIA with a start in this game. Biasi would try a couple of shots from distance, then as halftime approached Rams custodian Brianna Clarke parried a Nicole Stuart cross, with Macarthur surviving the resulting penalty area scramble.
While Macarthur couldn’t create a goal in the first half with attacks down the right wing, they would do so five minutes after the restart. Caceres delivered from out wide and Khamis’ flick set the ball up nicely for Charalambous (a former Manly player) to drill the ball past Simonsen.
Charalambous then almost doubled Macarthur’s lead a couple of minutes later when Gordon blocked a clearance, only to be denied by Simonsen’s brilliant save.
As they did in the first period, Macarthur pressed high and generally pushed Manly back inside their own half, however on the hour mark the visitors created a huge chance. Doran (who would be named Manly’s Player of the Match) started the move by running the ball out from the edge of her own area and sprinted forward to join the attack when Caitlin Jarvie found Biasi in space. Biasi rewarded Doran’s run with a neat pass and Doran skipped past a challenge, only for Clarke to make a brave stop.
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That save ended up being critical as the Rams extended their lead midway through the second half. When a Caceres cutback wasn’t properly cleared, Gordon took possession and chipped the ball sublimely over Simonsen for a 2-0 lead. Gordon’s technique and vision were phenomenal, with her left footed chip reminiscent of one she scored in 2019 while playing for Blacktown Spartans (link here).
Now Manly had to respond, and in the 77th minute Jarvie used her quick feet to set up Vanzino for a shot which flashed across the face of goal. However, Macarthur went straight down the other end and nearly scored – Gordon dinked a wonderful pass over the Manly backline, then Caceres overcooked the shot when one on one with Simonsen.
Gordon kept threatening until the end, and on 83 minutes the Rams midfielder drew a sharp save from Simonsen. To their credit, Manly didn’t give up, and as time wound down Biasi (unsurprisingly) was involved in two further chances, first teeing up Zahra for a 90th minute strike that flew over the crossbar, and then picking out Minett from the left flank in stoppage time – however the Manly striker was crowded out.
This result sees Macarthur move up a position into fourth, while Manly drop from third to seventh – it really is that tight in the NSW NPL competition!
In the other games, Bankstown City came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Northern Tigers, and Charlie Rule’s hat trick led Sydney Olympic to a convincing victory over NWS Spirit. APIA snuck past Blacktown Spartans at home, a Holly Caspers double helped Sydney University defeat Illawarra Stingrays, and it was honours even in the “Battle of the Kids” between Emerging Jets and Football NSW Institute.
Macarthur Rams 2 (Charalambous 50’, Gordon 67’)
Manly United 0
Macarthur Rams: Brianna Clarke, Holly Williams, Alex Huynh, Lauren Keir, Isabella Foletta (Olivia Sloan 66’), Darcey Malone, Melissa Caceres, Bethany Gordon, Laura Murtagh (Danielle Bishop 87’), Leena Khamis (c) (Kylie Ledbrook 74’), Patty Charalambous (Madison McComasky 66’)
Unused subs: Chloe Carmichael, Natasha Reiri
Yellow cards: Bethany Gordon 73’, Kylie Ledbrook 89’
Manly United: Nicole Simonsen, Aurelia Collins (Ellie Kerr 79’), Polly Doran, Phoebe Gilbane, Nicole Stuart, Meisha Westland, Jane Vanzino (c), Caitlin Jarvie, Tegan Biasi, Emily Minett, Maddison Zahra
Unused subs: Nicola Simmons, Emily Bastow, Sophie Clarke, Jemima Lockley
Around the Grounds
APIA Leichhardt 2-1 Blacktown Spartans
Emerging Jets 1-1 Football NSW Institute
NWS Spirit 1-6 Sydney Olympic
Northern Tigers 2-2 Bankstown City
Sydney University 3-1 Illawarra Stingrays
Table
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| Northern Tigers | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 9 | +4 | 15 |
| Blacktown Spartans | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 14 |
| Sydney Olympic | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 8 | +10 | 13 |
| Macarthur Rams | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 7 | +7 | 13 |
| Sydney University | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 4 | +6 | 13 |
| APIA Leichhardt | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 12 | +3 | 11 |
| Manly United | 8 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 15 | 13 | +2 | 11 |
| Bankstown City | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 15 | 13 | +2 | 8 |
| Illawarra Stingrays | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 11 | -4 | 5 |
| NWS Spirit | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 25 | -15 | 4 |
| Football NSW Institute | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 7 | -3 | 3 |
| Emerging Jets | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 24 | -18 | 1 |
Read more of our NSW NPL coverage here.
