A chilly Greenway Oval greeted onlookers for the Round 5 Capital Football NPLW fixture between Tuggeranong United and Belconnen United. This was Beyond 90’s first look at Tuggeranong United under coach Sarah West, who had a squad bearing little resemblance to last year.
Other games from this round that can be viewed include:
Gungahlin United vs Canberra Croatia (full stream)
ANU vs Canberra Olympic (full stream)
For an alternate review of the round, check out the Capital Football article from Jeremy Magan.
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Match of the Round: Tuggeranong United vs Belconnen United (Bar TV)
A mere three days had passed since these two teams had played each other in their Federation Cup tie, with two Blue Devils goals at either end of that game making for a 4-0 victory in the face of an otherwise consistent Tuggeranong performance.
The question for the coaches was how to freshen the squad for Sunday, and perhaps due to differing levels of squad depth, they approached the game in different ways. It’s wonderful to see Sarah West back coaching in the NPLW, and with just four familiar faces from last season, her challenge has been to find cohesion, balance, and spirit within her Tuggeranong squad. Scorelines to date indicate West has crafted a playing arrangement that makes it difficult for more established outfits to run away with the game. She lined up with the same starting eleven as Thursday, except for unavailable captain Lara Mustaine. Casey Smith took the armband as Ashlee Smith-Roberts joined the attack.
Blue Devils coach Scott Conlon took another route, making several changes. It was good to see Bronte Pyke return after spending time in NPL NSW; seeing her line up as a wide defender for her first start since her return is like winding the clock back. Four of the bench players from Thursday started here: Madeleine Steinacker, Pyke, Lisa Cary, and Reilly Yuen.
The game was characterised by a combative and structurally disciplined Tuggeranong team holding back waves of patient Blue Devils attacks with the occasional counter-attack, usually via Tiana Phillips-Maynard and Lena Christopherson. The home keeper Emily Pearce had a wonderful performance, excelling in positioning herself to deny shot after Belconnen shot.
Much of the early threat from the visitors came courtesy Pascale La Hei, who is revelling in her wide-left role with the Blue Devils this season. Belconnen was content to set up with a back three (McDonagh/Steinacker/Pyke), pushing captain Lauren Preston into right midfield. If La Hei enjoyed her sojourns down the left, Preston matched her with her energy down the right. All this service from width gave striker Alyssa Di Campli plenty of chances in front of goal, but it was one of those days when her attempts went just wide or within reach of Pearce.
Up stepped Yuen to take on the scoring responsibility, playing behind Di Campli initially, then as striker when Di Campli was substituted after an hour. In the space of 33 minutes, Yuen scored all five goals for the match. Some were sublime, such as her first, a sharply taken left-foot volley off the back of a quickly taken Izzy Hindmarsh free kick that Pearl Tein nodded on in the 37th minute. Others were due to a smart sense of positioning in the Tuggeranong six-yard box (her second in the 46th minute, and her fifth in the 70th). Yuen’s third was a calmy-slotted side-footed effort after Hattie Cram’s effort was blocked, and her fourth was a race downfield for a one-on-one with Pearce, having eluded the offside trap thanks to La Hei’s through ball.
That’s quite a few words about the Blue Devils’ performance as deserved winners, but how did the home side fare? It’s early days, but you have to credit West for the job done with this rebuilt squad. The team held its shape as a unit and while they tired a little (with ten of the eleven backing up), they did not fade in and out of the contest. We especially enjoyed the performances of Pearce, Matylda Wells-Sheather at right back, Phillips-Maynard as an attacking central midfielder, and the determined running of Lena Christopherson.
>>> Full match timeline and team line-ups can be found here <<<
Final score:
Tuggeranong United 0
Belconnen United 5 (Reilly Yuen 37′ 46′ 57′ 67′ 70′)
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