The ACT NPL (Capital Football) competition is in the run home towards finals, with Round 14 and next week’s Round 15 games serving up a plethora of games between top-four opponents. This week it was Canberra Olympic hosting Gungahlin United at a sunny O’Connor Oval. Beyond 90 will take a bit of a break from NPL during the FIFA Women’s World Cup, but will be keenly watching from afar thanks to Bar TV Sports.
The other Round 14 games available to view are:
ANU vs Tuggeranong United
Canberra Croatia vs West Canberra Wanderers
The Belconnen United vs Canberra United Academy game was postponed due to the number of players participating in the NTC (National Talent Challenge).
For an alternate review of the round, check out Jeremy Magan’s article for Capital Football.
Match of the Round: Canberra Olympic vs Gungahlin United (Bar TV)
With a full squad at her disposal and full awareness of the threat posed by Andrew Woodman’s Gungahlin United team, it was clear that Canberra Olympic coach Nicole Begg had plans to disrupt the Gunners when they met at O’Connor Oval.
Long-serving Belconnen United defender Leah Carnegie had joined Olympic prior to the end of the transfer window, slotting straight into defence. Similar to what we saw last week with Maddie Perceval for Gungahlin, this freed up captain Victoria Jamieson to take up a wide midfield role. Michaela Thornton had just hopped off the plane from international futsal duties, lacing on the boots for a softer surface.
Woodman chose an attacking starting formation, with Jade Brown adding attacking firepower, and Karen Thompson waiting in the wings to bolster a three-player backline (including Perceval) if and when needed.
Early attacking minutes went the home side’s way, with Olivia Gurney and Thornton combining for shooting opportunities, as well as not being individually shy about taking a shot at Emily Kelly’s goal. A firmly struck but slightly sliced Stella De Marco shot from outside Janet King’s box at the other end looked to even up the attempts-on-goal stats within the opening quarter hour.
There were a number of excellent tussles going on which made for fascinating viewing. Olympic wingback Vanessa Ryan had Darby Whiteley in her sights all game, matching speed for speed. The Gungahlin defence has been stoic of late and wasn’t making things easy for Maddy Whittall and company. The real battle, however, was in the midfield. Although this was a tight contest, the ability of the central Olympic midfielder trio of Thornton, Nicole Jalocha, and Madison Cachia to nullify the short passing game of Michelle Weinecke and the De Marco’s (Stella and Nat) would prove crucial to the end result, cutting off service to the dangers of Michelle Heyman, Brown, Ginger Oliver, and Whiteley.
It was perhaps fitting that in such a tightly fought game, it was the scrappiest of goals that turned the result. An uncharacteristic missed aerial punch from Kelly from a Carnegie corner put the ball into the six-yard box mixer, where the ball seemed to stay for an interminable period as three or four sets of legs tried to get meaningful contact.
It was Jalocha who toed the ball over the line for the only goal of the game. Kelly would go on to once again distinguish herself – as she has all season – with some fine saves, such as the one captured beautifully below on camera.
View this post on Instagram
The battle raged on after the goal and into the second half, with substitutions not really changing the pattern of the game. Elke Aitolu had some important moments in the second half, her anticipation and smarts proving vital in the heart of the Olympic defence.
Jalocha smiled in acknowledgement just after the hour as Weinecke sold her the most elegant of dummies, a moment lovely to see for spectators. Weinecke was to leave the field not long after with a painful ankle injury, which may put her in doubt for next week.
There was some late action that threatened to undo all the hard work that Olympic had put in to lock the game up, as King twice saved sharply in the last 15 minutes. The first denied Heyman after a Nat De Marco through ball, with King blocking with her feet, while the second saw King pounce to deny an outstretched Ella-Rose Brown in added time.
Remarkably, King’s post also came to her rescue just before the final whistle. The canny Thompson lifted a free kick over a surprised Olympic defence, finding Ella-Rose Brown in rare space. Brown’s shot across Kelly’s goal bounced agonisingly off the inside of the post and was cleared. This was to be Gungahlin’s best chance of the day.
Any of these three late chances could have undone Olympic’s lead, but in reality, they were Gungahlin’s only chances. Olympic had the better of the game, if narrowly, and the final score reflects that.
>>> Full match timeline and team line-ups can be found here <<<
Final score:
Canberra Olympic 1 (Nicole Jalocha 29′)
Gungahlin United 0
Around The Grounds:
ANU 1-4 Tuggeranong United
Canberra Croatia 3-0 West Canberra Wanderers
Ladder:
Next Round:
