State League 1 (3) def Camberwell (1)
The best thing about playing any form of competitive sport is that if you have a bad week you get a chance to redeem yourself. This is what we wanted from the Footscray girls with our must win game against Camberwell at home this week.
We had a late withdrawal with Sam Ellis pulling out due to sickness. We still had a few players with injuries but the tempo of our warm up showed we looked switched on right from the start.
Camberwell hit us hard from the start with great line breaking runs and precise passing to create heaps of chances and shots at goal. But Penny Mather, in her best game for Footscray that I have seen, shut the door and made save, after save, after save. We adjusted our structure ever so slightly and we started to break their lines and get the ball to our forwards. Not long after we earned our second corner and scored with Amy Turnbull getting another goal and taking the lead against play. Once we scored our first goal our confidence lifted and we started to really get into their defensive circle and put some pressure on their back line which stopped them from getting the easy overlap as they needed to work hard to cover our line breaks. The first half ended with a one nil lead to Footscray.
One thing we know about Camberwell is to never count them out and they came out hard in the second half. We matched their intensity and scored from another penalty corner with Gabby Minett scoring from a rebound to give us a two nil lead. Both teams where running hard and not giving an inch. Footscray scored again with a third goal from a corner, Amy Turnbull scoring again to get her double and give Footscray a handy three nil lead with ten to go. Camberwell with nothing to lose pulled there keeper and put on an extra field player, capitalising not long after to score a late goal. We earned another corner but could not convert. The game ended at 3-1 to Footscray.
Luke: “Very happy with the way we played today. We did not execute all skills correctly but our effort was fantastic and that is what was lacking last week. All players contributed today, no passengers and played some great hockey for longer moments in this game due to our hard work. Showed that the ladies have great character by bouncing back from a terrible game where it would have been easy to put the cue in the rack for the year and rest on our previous results. Very proud of the ladies. The next challenge will be Essendon next, depending on their result tomorrow we could be in the top four with a win cementing finals or needing to win our last few games to make the finals if they win over TEM tomorrow. Hope to see a big crowd down at home to cheer on the ladies and give us a huge home crowd advantage against cross town rivals.”
Next game: v Essendon 2pm Saturday 18 August at F-1
Pennant B (1) def Camberwell (0)
A great team effort, good passing game and a strong disciplined defence, we held Camberwell out and created a lot of chance on goal to record an important win that hopefully puts us in the top 4. Well done to everyone on a very solid game
Next game: v TEM 12.30pm Saturday 18 August at F-1
Pennant C (0) def by Altona (1)
Next game: v Hawthorn 3.30pm Saturday 18 August at F-2
Pennant D (6) def TEM (0)
Next game: v Monash Uni 5pm Saturday 18 August at F-2
Metro 2 South (0) def by Doncaster (2)
We played the 4th side on the ladder, with very slim hopes of still being able to reach the finals. Doncaster played very aggressively early and got on the board through a somewhat dubious goal, but were dominating the play. They followed up shortly after with a goal from a short corner and we were up against it halfway through the first half. From then on we certainly matched them and created plenty of chances. Our achilles heel all year has been converting chances and this week was no exception. After half time we had most of the play but could not find the net. The ball was moving out wide, players were overlapping from the back, defenders controlling their forwards – all systems go – just no goals!! Strong second half effort against a very aggressive team. The girls played it right out as usual!! Two games to go – lets knock off these top teams.
Next game: v Waverley 11am Sunday 19 August at Waverley
Metro 2 North (5) def Sunshine (0)
Next game: v Greensborough 12.30pm Saturday 18 August at Greensborough
Metro 3 North () v Melbourne Uni ()
Next game: v MCC 12.30pm Sunday 19 August at F-1
Metro 3 South () v Hawthorn ()
Next game: v Bayside Cougars 2pm Sunday 19 August at F-1
Metro 4 North (0) v Greensborough (1) (3)
M4NW lost this week to Greensborough 1 3-0. The game was not as one sided as the score would suggest with Footscray were able to work the ball down the field a number of times. We were unable to convert this to a goal. The opposition were able to very quickly break away and move the ball down the field, allowing them more chances to score. All of our of the players worked really hard to keep the score down, with Trudy Chambers putting in a great effort.
Next game: v La Trobe Uni (1) 3.30pm Sunday 19 August at La Trobe