MATCH REPORT | Western Springs 1 – Eastern Suburbs 3

Eastern Suburbs battled through to win a hectic game under floodlights at a chilly and foggy Seddon Fields on Friday evening. As always, it took a while for the suburbs ladies to settle on the fast artificial turf and the first twenty minutes were unstructured and messy. The swirling fog that drifted in and out from the nearby bay made things problematic for both teams and at times it was difficult to see what was happening on the other side of the pitch. Suburbs were also without a few of their regular players due to other commitments and so it was a different line up to usual.

Despite the untidy start, Suburbs managed to force a few corners and after 20 minutes one of these was floated in by Jade Parris, causing some panic in the western springs defence. The loose ball was jabbed home by Rebekah van Dort.

After this, Suburbs settled into their stride and began playing some more flowing football, keeping the pressure on the Springs midfield and defence. After half an hour they had another goal from close range as Molly Bryans managed to get her foot to the ball during some frantic defending by Springs.

Western Springs were much more organised in the second half and suburbs struggled to get out of their own half for long periods. Springs dominance was rewarded after ten minutes as they forced a corner which was forced over the line by Rebecca O’Neill and this gave them encouragement to push even harder during the remainder of the match. Suburbs managed to withstand the pressure although there were some heart stopping moments as Springs created chance after chance. Suburbs keeper, Corina Brown made a number of athletic saves to prevent the home team getting on level terms including one that seemed goal-bound when she just managed to tip it onto the cross bar.

With five minutes to go and still under pressure, Suburbs managed to break out of defence and release Hannah Pilley down the right wing. Her cross found Amber Whitley who made no mistake from close range.

Although it was not a classic performance, Suburbs will be happy to come away from Seddon Fields with this result as these Friday evening games always seem to present them with some problems. They can now take the weekend off and wait for the other results to come in.