Canberra Olympic's Heather Garriock turning back the clock. Photo: @KaiMoebus

Round 15 marks the start of the third and final full round of the 2021 Capital Football NPLW1 competition. Mid-table has been fascinating to watch on a weekly basis as the teams occupying third through sixth on the table continue to jockey for position. This week, Beyond 90 attended the fourth versus fifth game at Melrose Synthetic between West Canberra Wanderers and Canberra Olympic, with games again washed out for all other grades.

Other Round 15 games that were held this weekend included:

Belconnen United vs Wagga City Wanderers
Gungahlin United vs Tuggeranong United
Canberra FC vs Canberra United Academy


Match of the Round: West Canberra Wanderers vs Canberra Olympic

Matt Nicolletti and the M&M Podcast set the scene with this interview featuring Canberra Olympic coach Nicole Begg.

 

West Canberra Wanderers have had a season packed with promise, turmoil and resilience. Before this game they sat level on points with their opponents in equal fourth. The Wanderers have been as high as third and as low as seventh. They have endured a coach change and the loss of two W-League calibre players, yet are still clearly playing for each other as a unified group right to the death of games.

Canberra Olympic’s coaching change occurred before the season start, with Nicole Begg continuing the groundwork laid by Andrew Woodman on the bond within the team. Cohesion has slowly improved week by week, blending in new additions such as Raechel Hardwicke, Tianah Miro and alternate attacking focal point Anna Vandenbroucke. Just like West Canberra, they have been as high as third and as low as seventh.

Both teams were without mainstays in this game. The home side was without their captain Sarah Whitfield, hard-working midfielder Briana Maguire taking her place in the attacking line alongside Sofia Chaverra Calle [click here for a worthy Facebook fundraiser to help Sofia raise funds to cover the cost of her visa].

West Canberra strikers Sofia Chaverra Calle and Briana Maguire with Olympic defenders (left to right) Victoria Jamieson, Sienna Farrar and Ella Hemmings. Photo: @KaiMoebus

Canberra Olympic was without attacking midfielder Hardwicke, but had the services of Heather Garriock at their disposal in a roaming number 6 role (holding defensive midfield), with Begg opting to play the lively Miro off the bench.

The away side earned a prized early lead in this important fixture. Courtney Halse’s corner kick on nine minutes was headed down by Ash Sykes and over the West Canberra goal line, despite the attention of taller central defender Maya Binns. 


It only took another ten minutes for Olympic to double their lead, and they dominated play in those minutes. West Canberra keeper Janet King has been in fine touch this season and kept her team within reach of this contest when she first denied Anna Bennett in the 13th minute, then punched Garriock’s right-foot shot over her own bar a minute later. But King was powerless to do anything about Garriock’s magnificent through ball for Sykes in the 20th minute, with Sykes rounding King at speed and finishing easily for a 2-0 lead.  


Most of the game to this point had been in the Wanderers half and coach Rey Castro must have been wondering whether pushing Maguire into the attacking line had been the right tactic, with neither attacker seeing much ball.

The Olympic dominance continued as they stroked the ball around the park with relative ease and patience, whereas the Wanderers struggled to maintain possession. Ally Cook hit King’s crossbar from the edge of the penalty box at the half-hour mark, and young Wanderers centre back Ellen Brown did well to halt Sykes’ progress in the 36th minute as she once again threatened with a run towards goal.   

Olympic striker Ashleigh Sykes with a left-foot shot on goal as Alex McKenzie looks on. Photo: @KaiMoebus

Wanderers striker Chaverra Calle found herself with the ball in the Olympic box seven minutes before the break but was swarmed by blue shirts in defence. Influential Wanderers right-sided midfielder Alex McKenzie then sent a free-kick just high and wide of goal in the final act of the first half, and Olympic took a deserved 2-0 lead into the dressing sheds.

To this point, Olympic keeper Aurelia Haynes had very little to do, but that was to change. The second half began with a more focused Wanderers team taking the field, and it only took them a minute to up the ante with their passing game as some nice lead-up work saw an interchange between Maguire and Chaverra Calle end in a tame shot.

‘Giddy up !’ – Wanderers keeper Janet King receives some unexpected assistance from her defender in front of Ash Sykes, as Olivia Nolan and Anna Vandenbroucke look on. Photo: @KaiMoebus

Eight minutes into the half McKenzie took the ball on a trademark run down the right flank and into the Olympic penalty area, unselfishly centring the ball for Chaverra Calle, but the Olympic defence was on the spot to break the opportunity down.

The next minute saw the Wanderers pull a goal back as Tara Cannon’s corner landed at the feet of Chaverra Calle, who managed to bundle the ball over the goal line and send the home team back into contention at 1-2.

This was a strong period of the game for the red and black shirts with McKenzie again dashing towards Haynes’ six-yard box with the ball just a minute after the goal, but she was denied brilliantly by Haynes.

Canberra Olympic keeper Aurelia Haynes. Photo: @KaiMoebus

Garriock and Vandenbroucke shared a wall pass just before the hour mark which led to a Garriock long-range shot at goal that didn’t really test King. Substitutions for both teams followed as they looked for fresh legs to spark an advantage.

The referee brandished a yellow card at Miro in the 67th minute after she felled Maguire with a late tackle. Two minutes later Vandenbroucke’s chance in the West Canberra six-yard box was denied by the Wanderers defence.

An Olympic corner taken by Halse with 15 minutes to go was headed off the goal-line at the back post by Binns, while at the other end just minutes later Sienna Farrar did well to clear Chaverra Calle’s dangerous centred ball after some fine Wanderers build-up.

West Canberra’s Tara Cannon flying high. Photo: @KaiMoebus

Sykes made a trademark gliding run into the Wanderers box with ten minutes to go which resulted in a corner, and Halse was to have another pot-shot from distance, but the Wanderers were unable to rekindle the attacking form they showed earlier in the second half as the game wound up with a 1-2 win to Canberra Olympic.

While the Wanderers will be lamenting a first half that lacked intensity and perhaps an over-reliance on McKenzie as an attacking outlet from midfield, Olympic will be pleased with this away win against their mid-table rivals. The win propels Olympic into third place on the ladder and they will be looking to perform well next week at home against a desperate sixth-placed Gungahlin United to cement a place in the top four.

West Canberra now lies three points behind Olympic in fifth place, and their finals aspirations will be sorely tested next round against reigning champions Canberra Croatia, whose midweek catchup win against the Gunners has them once again at the top of the NPLW1 ladder.


Final score:

West Canberra Wanderers 1 (Chaverra Calle 53′)

Canberra Olympic 2 (Sykes 9′ 19′)

 

Teams:

West Canberra Wanderers – Coach: Rey Castro

Janet King, Emma Guo, Ellen Brown, Maya Binns, Olivia Nolan, Melinda O’Callaghan (c), Alex McKenzie, Demi Nikias, Tara Cannon, Briana Maguire, Ana Sofia Chaverra Calle

Subs: Samantha Briggs (75′ => Guo), Liz Edwards (69′ => Nikias), Julia Stanton (58′ => Brown), Jelena Josipovic, Samantha Savanhu (79′ => Chaverra Calle)

Yellow/Red cards: Nil


Canberra Olympic – Coach: Nicole Begg

Aurelia Haynes, Sienna Farrar, Brittany Fiorese, Ella Hemings, Victoria Jamieson (c), Courtney Halse, Heather Garriock, Ally Cook, Anna Bennett,  Anna Vandenbroucke, Ashleigh Sykes 

Subs: Tianah Miro (58′ => Garriock), Emma Croker (85′ => Vandenbroucke), Zoe Szeremet (85′ => Bennett), Isabella Wallace, Courtney Atwood

Yellow cards: Miro 67′


Around The Grounds:

Belconnen United 12 – 0 Wagga City Wanderers
Gungahlin United 8 – 0 Tuggeranong United
Canberra Croatia 4 – 0 Canberra United Academy 

Catch-up Round 14 game, Wednesday night, in diabolical weather:
Gungahlin United 2 – 3 Canberra Croatia


Ladder:

Pos Team P W D L For Against GD Pts
1 Canberra Croatia FC 15 13 1 1 67 14 53 40
2 Belconnen United FC 15 12 1 2 68 14 54 37
3 Canberra Olympic FC 15 8 1 6 39 31 8 25
4 Canberra United Academy 15 7 3 5 35 32 3 24
5 West Canberra Wanderers FC 15 7 1 7 22 23 -1 22
6 Gungahlin United FC 15 7 0 8 40 24 16 21
7 Wagga City Wanderers FC 15 2 0 13 12 75 -63 6
8 Tuggeranong United FC 15 0 1 14 6 76 -70 1

 

Next week:

Round 16

  • West Canberra vs Canberra Croatia, Melrose Synthetic, Sunday 1 August, 12:45pm
  • Canberra Olympic vs Gungahlin United, O’Connor Enclosed, Sunday 1 August, 2:15pm
  • Tuggeranong United vs Wagga City, Kambah 201, Sunday 1 August, 2:30pm
  • Canberra United Academy vs Belconnen United, Hawker Football Centre, Sunday 1 August, 3:00pm

 

Follow all our ACT NPLW coverage here

 

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