A welcome return to fine weather saw the third last NPLW1 round contested for season 2020. Always a key event in the NPLW calendar, but especially in season 2020 where all teams meet only once, the round featured the highly anticipated game between longstanding rivals Belconnen United and their nearest competitors over the last decade, Canberra Croatia FC. The result here was likely to be a significant puzzle piece in determining the 2020 premiers.

Round 7 games that were held this week included:

Canberra Croatia vs Belconnen United (Beyond 90’s match of the round)
Monaro Panthers vs Canberra Olympic
Tuggeranong United vs Wagga City
Woden-Weston vs Gungahlin United

Match of the Round: Canberra Croatia vs Belconnen United

Sunshine and a stiff breeze greeted the teams on Sunday at Deakin Stadium. The home side came into the round as the only team to have won all their games, steadily reducing goals conceded per game since the season start, while defending premiers Belconnen United had the same record as Gungahlin United i.e. a single draw amongst a procession of wins.

As the teams took the field, the home side opted to play a familiar lineup and formation, while the away side opted for some tinkering in the back-line, with the experienced Jessie Rasschaert partnering Karen Clarke in the centre of defence (as Mia McGovern moved to the bench). Vanessa Ryan switched from left back to right back to potentially counter the threat posed by Canberra Croatia goal scoring machine Brittany Palombi.

Whether or not it was the tinkering of the Belconnen United formation or just nerves, the home team started the game the steadier of the two. Uncharacteristic turnovers – sometimes in their own third – and fifty-fifty long balls meant that the early pressure in the game came from Canberra Croatia, and it would be half an hour into the game until Belconnen had settled into their more usual fluid passing game and player movement around the park.

Thirty minutes, however, is often enough time for a quality team with a steady amount of possession to do some damage, and so it proved today.

Ryan was able to match Palombi for speed but Palombi has more than one string to her bow, using quick feet and close control in and around the penalty box to cause issues in the opening minutes.

It was to be another one of Palombi’s strengths which led to the only goal of the game after a quarter of an hour. Jockeyed by two defenders outside the Belconnen United penalty box, Palombi teed the ball up for a shot with her lethal left foot. Her perfectly placed shot found the narrow space between the tips of Belconnen keeper Jess Giovanazzo’s fingers and the underside of the crossbar. The accuracy that Palombi is able to find with her shots from range rarely disappoints, and this, her seventh goal of the season, was no exception.

Having weathered several Canberra Croatia corners, Belconnen had their first in the 33rd minute as possession statistics in the opponents’ half began to swing back Belconnen’s way. Alexia Forner, so deadly from set pieces in Round 6, had several attempts on the Canberra Croatia goal in the last ten minutes of the half but couldn’t quite find her range. Canberra FC central defender Rhiannon Fensom was once again proving to be pivotal to the home side’s defensive efforts, reading attacking moves and acting as an enforcer to ensure they were broken down. Vanessa Ryan was tireless in efforts up and down the right touchline for Belconnen, and on the other side Catherine Brown was starting to find more space to operate in.

Now playing with confidence, Rasschaert’s acceleration was vital to cutting out Canberra Croatia chances, and for spectators her duels with Grace Field were enthralling. As the half closed, Field played a glorious backheel wall pass to the onrushing Palombi, who strode into the Belconnen penalty area but fired her low shot wide of goal.

There were no changes to either team at halftime as the hard fought contest resumed. Both captains (Michaela Thornton for Belconnen and Grace Gill for Canberra Croatia) were covering huge amounts of territory and were integral to passing movements. As has been the case on many occasions over the years, they were also often marking each other, with both successful in stymying the creativity of the other to a degree.

Belconnen’s ascendancy in the second half became evident as their substitutions were rung in, and their attacking intent rose the more the game wore on. The speedy Keira Bobbin – who scored 16 goals in a breakout 2019 – entered the fray in the 53rd minute, camping on their right wing. Mia McGovern came on for Samantha Price as a number 9 ten minutes later, as Belconnen started pushing three of four attackers on every offensive move. Bianca Kimpton was also to join the attacking line on the left side later in the half, replacing Jas Maguire.

In one astounding defensive effort, Ryan denied Palombi from shooting in a one-on-one situation with keeper Jess Giovinazzo on 71 minutes in the Belconnen penalty area, with a perfectly timed tackle from behind.

Gill had two set piece chances on the edge of Belconnen’s penalty area in the 74th and 82nd minutes, but the first effort was narrowly wide of the left post, and the second was driven low but able to be gathered by Giovinazzo.

Hinson in the Canberra Croatia goal didn’t have that much to do in this game, but rushed out bravely with six minutes to go get her body in the way of three onrushing bodies in the form of defender Amy McLachlan, and attackers McGovern and Nicole Jalocha.

A free kick taken by Karen Clarke near the half way line with five minutes to go demonstrated the extent of Belconnen’s pressure at this time, with all but two outfield players – on both sides – in or around the Canberra Croatia penalty box.

In the last attacking moment of the game, Field fired a low shot into the Belconnen left side netting in the 4th minute of extra time. As the final whistle blew, Canberra Croatia were to come away as 1-0 victors.

Beyond 90 had the pleasure of chatting with the captains following the game, and both had astute observations about this contest.

Michaela Thornton reflected on her side’s somewhat nervy start, and said that they had spoken before the game about the dangers from the left and Palombi’s shots from range, which ultimately proved the difference between the two sides.

Thornton felt that Canberra Croatia’s shape was effective when they had possession “… but when they pressed us they were a little bit scrappy, and that’s a bit on us (and our inability to exploit that). They had a lot of good interchange between their 9 and their 10 – the two Grace’s – which threw us a little bit as well. Those are things we can fix, and we’re looking forward to finals now.”

She was also upbeat about their run home (games against Canberra Olympic and Canberra United Academy), believing that there’s nothing better than successive strong challenges to tune the side up for finals.

It’s been for several years now that Thornton has found herself playing the ‘game within the game’ directly on Grace Gill in important matches.

“You always go in wanting to win your individual battles; if we collectively as a team can at least keep her playing backwards so she isn’t threading balls through to the 9 and to her wingers, that’s a good start, but that’s also true of any 10 that you’re playing against.”

Gill was incredibly proud of her Canberra Croatia team, saying that they came into the game feeling confident and with a game plan.

“Every time we play them, they push us to our limit and bring the best out in us, so we’re very happy with the result.”

She also had praise for the ability of her team to withstand Belconnen’s attacking pressure, reflecting that their keeper didn’t have that many shots on goal to contend with.

“Our defensive shape is something we’ve taken our time to settle into, and taken our time to get right, and early on in the season we did concede too many goals and we were very mindful of that, so it’s something that we’ve really worked a lot on. Rhiannon has been great for us this year, she brings a lot of experience and is really fearless on the ball – she’s one of those traditional centre backs.”

Speaking about the challenge of matching up against Michaela Thornton and the Belconnen midfield, Gill said that “… we know they are going to be extremely physical and they’re going to be fit; they run a lot, and it’s something that we have to be prepared for. I think our midfield demonstrated today that we’re more than up for the task. We’ve got a really strong midfield this year, and even further than that, we’ve got some depth with the likes of Sharon Chao and Jordan Ujdur coming in and doing a job [wherever on the field they are called upon].”

With respect to the approach into finals, Gill said, “We’ve spoken every week about how we’ve got to keep improving, so even when we are getting results and the three points, we’ve got to look at the things we need to get better at and go away and work those into training, so we can come into the next game and improve. And I think the last few weeks we have done that … but I think we still have room for improvement, and that’s exciting.

“Our run home against Tuggeranong and Gungahlin is just as important as today’s goal.”

In handing Belconnen United just their third loss in 82 games, Canberra Croatia were rewarded today for their consistency and discipline. Time will tell over the next two rounds, but their reward out of this game is quite likely to be the mantle of Premiers for season 2020.

In other Round 7 games, an upset win by Woden-Weston over Gungahlin United and Tuggeranong United’s first win (over Wagga City) saw a competition ladder reshuffle. Canberra Croatia FC now lead the pack by five points. Woden-Weston jump into 5th position, pushing Canberra United Academy below them, and Tuggeranong United leapfrog Wagga City into 7th.

Final score:

Canberra Croatia FC 1 (Palombi 15′)

Belconnen United 0

Teams:

Canberra Croatia FC – Coach: Nik Brozinic

Ally Hinson, Cecilija Matic, Amy McLachlan, Rhiannon Fensom, Alice Churchill, Krista Hagen, Grace Gill (c), Jamie Berkeley, Sharon Chao, Grace Field, Brittany Palombi
Subs:  Jordan Ujdur (80′ => Chao), Lara Agnew (88′ => Palombi), Alexa Panagiotopoulos

Yellow cards: Nil

Belconnen United – Coach: Ahmed Ugool

Jess Giovinazzo, Vanessa Ryan, Jessie Rasschaert, Karen Clarke, Catherine Brown, Michaela Thornton (c), Nicole Jalocha, Alexia Forner, Leah Carnegie, Jas Maguire, Samantha Price
Subs: Keira Bobbin (59′ => Carnegie), Mia McGovern (64′ => Price), Maria Pachi, Jayla Murphy, Bianca Kimpton (79′ => Maguire)

Yellow cards: Rasschaert 74′, Brown 82′, Ryan 90+3′

Around The Grounds:

Monaro Panthers 0 vs 10 Canberra Croatia – Round 6 washed out game played Tues 25/8

Monaro Panthers 2 vs 10 Canberra Olympic
Tuggeranong United 2 – 0 Wagga City
Woden-Weston FC 2 – 0 Gungahlin United
Canberra United Academy – bye

Round 8 fixtures can be viewed here.

Ladder:

Follow all our ACT NPLW coverage here.