Third played first on a hard pitch at a breezy Gungahlin Enclosed Oval, with Gungahlin United hosting the Belconnen Blue Devils in Round 9 of the Capital Football NPLW competition.
Other games from this round include:
Canberra Croatia vs Canberra Olympic (full stream)
ANU vs West Canberra Wanderers (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: Gungahlin United vs Belconnen United (Bar TV)
Two strong lineups and benches, little between the teams: if this is what we can look forward to in the rundown to finals, we’re in for a treat. For the home side, Sammy Emms had her second game between the sticks, with Jade Brown also on the bench for her second match since returning to the Gunners from the United States. Left-sided speedster Darby Whiteley, however, was absent. The team was coming off a narrow loss to Canberra Olympic.
The visitors saw captain Lauren Preston return after a week away and welcomed Alyse Jensen back into the starting lineup for her first NPLW start in some weeks. With a positive goal difference far ahead of any other team and an unbroken run of wins this season, the Blue Devils are the team to beat.
Yet beat them the Gunners did, 2-1, despite having gone down a goal after just six minutes when an Alyssa Di Campli layoff allowed the prolific Reilly Yuen to belt a shot towards Emms’ goal. The keeper was to get a glove to the ball, but such was the wind-assisted force behind it that the ball still hit the back of the net.
The conditions acted as a leveller, with effort levels and accuracy all the more important. Gunners’ centre-back Corinne Denton’s powerful dead-ball deliveries in the face of the breeze were an asset for them. At the same time, Jensen and Ailish McDonagh in the Blue Devils’ defence proved adept at navigating through the high press exerted upon them by Alex Martens and Sharon Chao. Without this high-press effort, it’s doubtful that the Gunners would have been as effective in this contest. Yuen was leading the effort stakes for the visitors, following Gunners’ attacking runs into her own defence on more than one occasion.
Belconnen keeper Monique Pinkiewicz was fortunate not to concede a penalty in the 16th minute after upending Martens as the referee waved play on. At the other end, the speed of Bobbin proved challenging for the Gunners defence, but the breeze and surface more than once conspired to take the ball away from her.
As opportunities presented for both sides, McDonagh did well in the 22nd minute to position herself, heading Chao’s shot off the line as Pinkiewicz was stranded. Another Chao shot after the half-hour led to the equaliser when Ginger Oliver stepped up to take the resulting corner. The bouncing back post delivery to Nat De Marco was laid back to fullback Alex Nealand, with Nealand’s screamer of a 25-yard shot against the wind catching Pinkiewicz off her line. Nealand would go on to have a fine outing, defending well in tight spaces and making good decisions throughout the 90 minutes.
A Yuen low drive was gathered by Emms late in the half, but there were occasional uncertain moments with the ball at feet in the Gunners’ backline. Once the ball reached their midfield, the De Marco sisters’ on-the-ball confidence consistently helped to steady their ship.
There were no halftime changes and after Martens scuffed an early left-foot chance for the Gunners, Yuen did well to round Emms at the other end near the hour mark as her shot went agonisingly wide. Substitutions started appearing for both sides and it wasn’t long before the decisive moment of the game occurred, when a Blue Devils distribution mixup presented Chao with an easy side-footer to take the lead for Gungahlin.
Blue Devil Pearl Tein was busy at the back end of the game, working together with Bobbin to head just wide with 12 minutes remaining, then shooting from distance in the last five minutes. Try as they might, Belconnen could not break through for a share of the points.
There’ll be no panic in the Blue Devils camp at this result, however it does present the Gunners with a confidence boost and some welcome additional belief as both teams look ahead to the middle part of the campaign.
>>> Full match timeline and team line-ups can be found here <<<
Final score:
Gungahlin United 2 (Alex Nealand 35′, Sharon Chao 64′)
Belconnen United 1 (Reilly Yuen 6′)
Around The Grounds:
Canberra Croatia 2-5 Canberra Olympic
ANU 1-3 West Canberra Wanderers
Ladder:
Next Round:
The NPLW takes a back seat next weekend with a major trophy – the Federation Cup – on offer at Deakin Stadium. Kickoff is at 2pm on Saturday.
