Ahead, via timely header

By JARROD POTTER
WITH moments left in a chance-filled encounter between Casey and Cairnlea, defender Laura Croft headed the equaliser to give the Comets a 2-1 win.
And with it came third spot on the Women’s Premier League ladder.
Casey and Cairnlea ground out a 0-0 first half, before Nicola Prins struck, and at 1-0 with five minutes remaining in regulation time, and amidst a sea of Comets failed attempts, that looked like what the final scoreline would be.
Chaos struck when Cairnlea’s Lucrece Laverdure found a goal out of nowhere with four minutes remaining on the clock.
With a last roll of the dice, Comets coach Ian Williamson brought on striker speedster Annie Remman, who started working immediately – a couple of her quick routes set up chances from spot kicks before she helped earned the decisive corner.
Taryn Browne pinpointed her corner kick to Croft, who found the back of the net and helped Casey to a well-deserved victory.
“First half was the best we’ve played all year,” Williamson said.
“We created chance after chance after chance, we kept them under pressure and the front three were playing well.
“I think we deserved the win overall – they (Cairnlea) played well, but we deserved the win as we hit the crossbar a couple of times and kept creating chances.”
Williamson said his frontrunners, Brittany Dudley-Smith, Jessica Calder and Prins were best afield, while he was pleased to get a solid run into captain Melissa Atherton, who was returning from injury via the bench over the last couple of matches.
“Brittany Dudley-Smith, the New Zealand girl we’ve got in midfield, is getting better every week and she was outstanding,” Williamson said.
“My three best players in the first half were her, Jessica Calder and Nicola Prins.
“I think it was good up to a point to get Mel (Atherton) back, as she needed a game before we get into this little tough run we’ve got against Box Hill, South Melbourne and Bundoora.”
With a short turnaround from Sunday, the Comets head to Box Hill on Friday night to face the top-placed team in one of the matches of the season.