A twilight match for the two top of the table and undefeated Women’s Teams, this had all the hallmarks of a classic clash about to unfold between two very good sides. The Hampton Rovers and Glen Eira women were all revved up and ready to go. The conditions were ‘footy perfect’ at Packer Park and the supporters and spectators were pumped in anticipation for this match of the round.
1st Q.
The first quarter got underway with both teams hard at it and after a bit of an arm wrestle, Glen Eira got away to a good start with the opening goal of the match. There were some good early signs for the Rovers however Glen Eira were matching our intensity but were finishing off slightly better than us at this stage. They were able to break forward again to put their second goal on the board.
The Rovers didn’t panic but kept their work rate up and steadied with our first goal through Hayley Gould after she’d taken a strong mark.
Bianca was controlling the ruck and giving our midsfirst use of the ball out of the centre. Greta Robertson was lifting our forwards with her dynamic handball, evasive skills and single grab marks. Alba was having impact on the game with her attack on football, she created an opportunity ‘out of nothing’ and snapped our second goal. Both teams were tackling hard and it was a real contest with the scores tied at the quarter time break.
Score – Quarter time: Rovers 2.1.13 to Glen Eira 2.1.13
2nd Q.
A strong message by Coach Corey at the break was to push back and ‘women up’ in defence to help out our backline. The girls responded exceptionally well. Maxine, Maegan, Bree-Anna, Shae and others were doing a great job around the ground.
On the end of a chain of handballs Alba was able get her second goal and the Rover’s third for the match.
Our whole backline led by Mandy Naylor and Kristy Ebbott were holding off Glen Eira whenever they came forward. We were just missing adding to our goal tally with a couple of ‘posters’, missed shots and an ‘almost goal’ to Catherine Devola after a great attempted snap! (maybe a sign of greater things to come?)
Isabella Cameron was really impacting the game with her attack on the footy and this led to the ball spilling free and Harmoni Collins showing exceptional ’soccer skills’ with an off the ground beautifully timed strike straight through the big sticks!
Score – Half Time: Rovers 4.8.32 to Glen Eira 2.1.13
3rd Q.
After going scoreless in the previous quarter Glen Eira lifted and soon had a goal on the board courtesy of a really good kick from a long way out.
We were desperately holding them off with our strong marking in defence. Stephanie Peacock who was giving us great drive around the ground, took off for a great run giving the ball out and getting it back to gain over 100 metres. Unfortunately, we couldn’t finish off herbrilliant effort with a goal. When Glen Eira scored another goal is was now only a single straight kick the difference.
They were certainly coming at us and we were under intense pressure as we were now also a couple of players down through injuries. (both Haley and Greta were out for rest of the game)
We did manage to score a behind for the quarter, leaving us just 7 points in front at 3 quarter time.
Score – Three Quarter time: Rovers 4.9.33 to Glen Eira 4.2.26
4th Q
This match was living up to all the hype surrounding the clash between the top two sides in the comp. A real ‘ding dong’ battle!
Maxine Behnke was having a slashing game and she was continuing on with her brilliance in the last quarter. Isabel Lynch kept the pressure on her opponents when it was needed.
We willed the ball forward where Bree-Anna got on the end of a pass but just missed with a thrilling shot from the boundary. The mighty Rovers were threatening and maybe our strong training and fitness was starting to make a difference in this keenly fought contest.
Finally, Savina Dendrinos was able to break the game deadlock by snapping truly for an awesome and much needed goal. Then for one of the best highlights of the game Cath (Catherine Devola) won a juggling fingertip contest in front of our goals and kicked truly from 15 metres out…all the girls got over to her and the Hampton Rovers supporters went berserk!
Glen Eira got the last goal of the game but Hampton Rovers ran out 14 point winners. It was certainly an awesome game, with good skills on show and the whole match played with good spirit.
Final Score: Rovers 6.10.46 to Glen Eira 5.2.32
Goals: Maegan Miller 1, Alba Skellern 1, Catherine Devola 1, Hayley Gould 1, Harmoni Collins 1, SavinaDendrinos 1.
