It was a solid team performance rather than individual brilliance that got the Western NSW Panthers FC a 2-0 win over St George in the Women’s Super League at Alec Lamberton Field on Sunday.
The Panthers came into the game with a slender one point lead over Illawarra on the Super League ladder and would have been confident of keeping that after beating St George 2-0 in their match earlier in the year.
Western NSW coach Paul Waine said he felt the team needed a run in the legs after the bye and he was satisfied with the effort.
“It wasn’t too bad. I think we were suffering after the week off and the girls took a bit of time to get into their stride, but a win’s a win,” Waine said.
“It was a good, not a great, but a good team effort today from everyone.
“I think our defence is setting us up and that’s not just the players at the back, our whole team effort in defence is frustrating other teams and allowing us to create chances up front.”
Fifteen minutes before half-time Ashleigh Sykes took the ball down the left wing and slotted the first goal of the day.
Going into half-time, Panthers were up 1-0 and Waine said he didn’t want his team to do anything dramatically different in the second half.
“We just went through some of the things to improve the side, we just worked on some things that didn’t go well in the first half and tried to keep it as positive as possible so we could keep a positive attitude in the second half,”
“We didn’t work on anything in particular, just worked on things they didn’t do right in the first half, so they could go out and play better football.”
After the break, the team came out and defended well and created limited attacking opportunities including a strike from Amber-Lea Ryan which just went over the bar.
It wasn’t until Sykes was brought down in the area and a penalty was awarded that Bathurst had their next real chance of scoring and Erin Markwick put the ball in the back of the net to make it 2-0.
It was the last real scoring opportunity of the match as St George tried to get back into the match but the Panther’s defence proved too strong.
“I thought Ashleigh Sykes played well. I thought Jade Braun did well in midfield and again our two defenders, Katie Holden and Jodie Davies, they both played particularly well,” Waine said.
The Panthers’ mentor said he was happy with where the team was placed on the ladder, as the regular season comes to a conclusion.
“Couldn’t be more pleased really. We have had a good year so far and everyone is working hard and it’s going to be tough coming into the end of the season. But we are playing good and we are playing well enough to be at the top which is the main thing,” Waine said.
WESTERN NSW PANTHERS FC 2 (Ashleigh Sykes, Erin Markwick) defeated ST GEORGE 0.
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