Preston's Nathalie Chea takes off on an attacking run as Sandringham's Sian Rogers is about to set off after her. Image courtesy: John Punshon
By Gigi Silk
Sandringham has continued their winning streak with a convincing victory over the Preston Lions at B.T Connor Reserve today.
Sandringham overcame their opponents’ 4-nil in a heated match that included two last-minute goals.
It took both teams a while to get used to the windy conditions and find a rhythm; they were crowding the centre and the entire field was swarming the ball.
However once Sandringham synched-up, they dominated the first-half.
Sandringham’s first goal came at the 15 minute mark when Stephanie Catley out-ran Jess Cvetkovska and crossed the ball into the right-hand corner.
15 minutes later the next shot on goal came, when Catley was again able to outrun her opponents and dribble right up to the goals. This time, the quick ball was saved by Jamie Floros who took the brunt of its power to her stomach.
Soon after, Preston upped the pressure in their defensive line, diffusing many attempts by Sandringham to drive the ball forward. This pressure was not transferred up-front, with them failing to create any real scoring opportunities in the first half.
Both Preston and Sandringham seemed to lose concentration early in the second half, with both teams struggling to maintain possession long enough to get the ball forward.
Following a few controversial offside decisions, both teams became more and more frustrated. Jacinta Mazza was first to crack, voicing her anger at Sandringham at the 60 minute mark.
In the 66th minute, Hannah Stuart faced no opposition and an open goal when she put the ball past Floros straight into the centre of the net.
With 10 minutes to go, Emma Runnalls accidently tripped Jess Cvetkovska who landed awkwardly on her right knee. She was stretched off with a suspected broken knee.
Following some on-field rearranging, Rachael Keenan replaced Floros in the goals, who was sent into battle and replace Cvetkovska.
With Preston rattled by Cvetkovska’s injury, Sandringham took advantage of the distracted team to score in the 90th minute with Runnalls booting the ball straight past the defence and again in the 91st minute with a corner conversion by substitute Lucy Kapusta.
Sandringham’s maturity and aggression came through in this match but Preston held their own against a stronger opposition with their defensive pressure clearly getting under Sandringham’s skin.
“We’re really happy with the win and it’s always good to get a few goals. We played well and I think we deserved to win.” Sandringham striker, Stephanie Catley said.
Sandringham face the Casey Comets next week and Preston will play South Melbourne.
Preston Lions: Jamie FLOROS (Gk) (Rachael KEENAN 84’), Kate CHRISTOFF (c), Natalie CHEA (Jacquelene GHIRXI 62’), Jess CVETKOVSKA, Jacinta MAZZA, Diana PICULOVSKI (Bianca ROSANO 70’), Kirstie SHEARING, Sarah SUMNER (Larissa WERBIUK 70’), Paula MASSOUH, Melissa RODRIGUEZ-LORENZO, Ashleigh KELLY
Unused subs: Naumovski CASEY
Sandringham: Peta HORMAN (Gk), Stephanie CATLEY, Paige DODDS (Lucy KAPUSTA 67’), Sienna FOGARTY, Alice MAXWELL, Christie PARTON, Michelle PARTON, Rachel PEZZANO, Sian ROGERS, Emma RUNNALLS, Hannah STUART
Goals Catley 15’, Stuart 66’, Runnalls 90’, Kapusta 91’
Last updated: Monday July 12, 2010 5:41PM
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