5 Things from WA State Cup Final

On Sunday the final of the WA Hyundai Women’s State Cup was played at Inglewood Stadium between Perth RedStar FC and Perth SC.

Both clubs were attempting to win the trophy for the first time, although Perth RedStar had prior experience of lifting the cup from when they were known as Northern Redbacks, winning it nine times, most recently in 2019.

Perth RedStar were the hot favourites going into the final, as they had a perfect league record of 14 wins from 14 games and were 19 points ahead of their opponents who sat in 3rd place going into the final.

However, Cup finals are not won on paper. Perth SC showed in the early exchanges that they were not there to make up the numbers and they created a couple of early chances in the first 10 minutes.

Slowly but surely though Perth RedStar began to exert more and more pressure on the Azzurri defence and they took the lead in the 35th minute when a Carla Bennett cross was collected by Jacinta Coleman. She pulled the ball back to Larissa Walsh at the top of the box and her first-time left-foot strike gave Perth SC goalkeeper Rebecca Bennett no chance.

Perth SC then showed their fighting qualities by snatching an equaliser just five minutes later when Jaime Duncanson capitalised on an error in the Perth RedStar defence to roll the ball into an empty net, and they could even have taken the lead a few minutes later when Faye Phillips hit a rising shot just over the bar.

The second half picked up where the first half left off, with Perth RedStar having the bulk of possession in midfield areas and Perth SC looking dangerous when they were able to break quickly and force their way into the attacking third. 

Perth SC struck the post through a shot from Liana Cook and an offside decision robbed RedStar’s Sarah Carroll of a goal in the 66th minute, before the league leaders finally went ahead in the 78th minute. Coleman bundled the ball home from a Carla Bennett corner after Rebecca Bennett misjudged the flight of the ball.

A rasping shot from Abbey Meakins was well saved by RedStar shotstopper Shivani Battaglia as Perth SC went searching for a second equaliser, but that was their best effort in the closing stages. Perth RedStar saw the game out to win the cup and claim a first-ever trophy for the new club.

Control the midfield and you control the game

A key factor in Perth RedStar’s success has been the form of their midfield three – captain Shawn Billam, Carla Bennett and Jacinta (Jay) Coleman. Between them, they have played over 550 games of first-team football for the club and their understanding of each other’s movements sees them snuff out danger at the earliest opportunity, then move the ball forward as quickly and accurately as possible to set up attacks.

This was the case again on Sunday. Perth SC’s attempts to get the ball higher up the pitch were thwarted by the Perth RedStar midfield, who would force turnovers and ensure that possession was rarely clean or won in threatening areas.

Perth’s high press

A feature of Perth SC’s play under coach Peter Rakic has been their desire to press the ball high up the pitch in an attempt to force turnovers. Given the defensive record of Perth RedStar, it was vital for Perth SC to try and box their opponents in the final third of the pitch and cause mistakes via their press. They did this well for periods of the game and earned their reward on 40 minutes. A rushed back pass from Tessa De Leo led to a poor clearance from Battaglia, which cannoned off Phillips and into the path of their leading scorer Duncanson, who rolled the ball into the empty net.

Defenders winning plaudits

The Player of the Match award is usually won by a goalscorer or midfielder as they tend to catch the eye the most, but Sunday was a day for defenders to shine with Perth SC’s Alyssa Van Heurck and Perth RedStar’s Andreia Teixeira both having games worthy of winning the honour.

In the end, it was Teixeira who was given the award with her solid display at the heart of the Perth RedStar defence, but Van Heurck must have been very close to winning as she was a massive presence for the Azzurri.

Fellow Azzurri centre-back Judy Connolly was also impressive. Both her and Van Heurck were often the springboards for Perth SC to turn defence into attack, whilst Perth RedStar’s right-back Grace Monteiro caught the eye with a high-energy performance in both attack and defence.

Possession in key areas

Game day statistics showed that Perth RedStar made 509 passes during the game with a 71% passing accuracy, whilst Perth SC had 418 passes and a 68% accuracy.

Those figures don’t tell the full story though as Perth RedStar made 180 passes into the final third, compared to 96 for Perth SC. They also made 43 passes into the Perth SC penalty area with 15 of those being accurate, compared to 24 by Perth SC with four being accurate.

By getting the ball into the danger areas more frequently than their opponents, the Perth RedStar attack was able to put more pressure on the Perth SC defence and this resulted in six shots on target for Perth RedStar, compared to two for Perth SC.

Changing room woes

The Women’s Cup final was one of four finals played at Inglewood on Sunday, along with the NPL U18’s, U20’s and Men’s finals.

From a football point of view, the day was a huge success with high-quality games in all four finals and large crowds turning out to watch a festival of football. It was terrific to see so many people at the ground after many of them had already watched EPL teams Leeds, Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Manchester United play on Friday and Saturday.

Unfortunately, there were issues off the field with facilities for the women’s teams. Officials had to erect temporary barriers in their changing rooms to provide some privacy from the urinals being used by the men’s teams.

It’s to be hoped that following the release of the Football West facility report (click here for details) grounds will improve in this regard – currently more than 60% of venues in the state don’t have female-friendly change rooms.

Click here for game day highlights.

Click here for a post-match interview with Larissa Walsh of Perth RedStar.

Match Stats (via Instat)