Leigh Terek was in superb touch against WVSA at Comets Stadium on Sunday, scoring a brace, which included a magnificent long-range goal.By Marc McGowan
IT may only be consolation for not reaching the Women’s Premier League finals, but the Casey Comets remain on track to achieve their goal of finishing in sixth position.
They dumped the winless WVSA 4-0 at Comets Stadium on Sunday in a routine effort against a side headed back to division one football.
The match saw the Comets change their regular formation from 3-5-2 to 4-4-2 to add extra bite to their limp offence, but it turned up the heat on centre backs Vanessa Hellar and Anna Carmichael.
It was not long before Casey asserted itself on the fixture, with the in-form Belinda Powell turning her opponent perfectly before thundering the ball home from eight yards.
Leigh Terek and Rachel Lamb did as they pleased through the middle, while Marcie Algeria and Shuanna Murray played well out wide.
Terek produced many chances on her raking right foot, but it was the most difficult that she benefited from.
The veteran midfielder gained possession and balanced herself before blasting a strike from between the box and the halfway line past the hapless WVSA goalkeeper.
The amazing goal gave the Comets a 2-0 lead inside the first 30 minutes and it confirmed their ascendancy.
Further supremacy followed, but it took until the final five minutes of the contest before the margin increased.
Terek headed the ball into the back of the net for Casey’s third score and second-half substitute Lisa Cloke put the icing on the cake with her first goal of 2007 moments later.
Melissa Atherton was the other impressive performer for the Comets, who have now scored at least a point in three straight encounters.
With the final home and away round this weekend, Casey needs to win against the lowly Eastern Lions and rely on Keilor Park and Preston losing to attain sixth spot.
The latter two will enter their games as underdogs against Box Hill and Eltham North respectively.
Comets coach Deborah Nichols was happy to move closer to the aim she set her players once the club was out of finals contention, but did not get carried way with the victory.
“It was unusual, we didn’t get out of first gear. Obviously, the early goal settled their nerves and they played within themselves,” she said.
“We could have run over the top of them, but we did enough to win.”
The triumph left Nichols reflecting on what would ultimately be a fruitless season.
“If you look at the ladder we’ve been fairly competitive defensively, but we’ll miss out on finals because we have not scored enough goals,” she said.
“If we win on Sunday, we have a very good chance of finishing sixth … then we have 10 weeks off and can come back fresh next season.
“We’ve gone with a very young side and we’ve done better than what anyone would have expected.”
Casey’s reserves also picked up three points with a similarly crushing 4-0 defeat of WVSA to move into ninth place on the table.
The Comets complete their season against the Lions at Gardiners Creek Reserve in Burwood on Sunday.
The reserves kick off at 1pm before the seniors strive for more success at 3pm.
