By JARROD POTTER
NPL VICTORIA – ROUND 13
DOWNED on the last orbit by the Galaxy, Southern United was left cruelly short of a second WNPL victory.
From the side that got consistently thumped through the early phase of the season, renewed faith and the return of two forward stars have pushed Southern into a deadly side that is threatening to pick off a few big scalps.
The win over Alamein, a narrow 3-4 loss to Heidelberg and now a 1-2 defeat at the hands of Geelong Galaxy have been in sharp contrast to its earlier autumn form.
Front liners Saphri Lines, Tiffany Eliadis and Brittany Dudley-Smith were problematic for the Galaxy defence. The trio continued punching holes in the visitors’ best efforts, but for Southern its best efforts only resulted in a solitary goal.
Eliadis (24) found herself on the end of a cross from Dudley-Smith to put the pink-and-blue brigade ahead and with plenty more opportunity before the half, it seemed like United could generate the huge upset.
The Galaxy – staring down the barrel of a huge upset – revved into high gear for the final 15 minutes.
The resolute Southern defence started to crumble – despite the best efforts of Freya Crocker in goals. Caitlin Pickett (82’) was given too much room at the back gave the Galaxy its first in the dying minutes before a frantic goal-line scramble from a corner allowed Olivia Ortiz (90’) to slot the match-winner.
It leaves a bittersweet feeling lingering for the side, who can claim great improvement over its lacklustre early form, but a bad loss, no matter what the circumstances, always remains difficult to comprehend.
“Same as last week against Heidelberg,” Southern coach Stuart Munro said. “In one way it’s testament to how far we’ve come with this group of players this season. Basically playing to try and improve a bunch of girls who weren’t at the same level as the rest of them in this league and now we’re feeling hard done by for ourselves for not getting something out of a game against two teams in the top three.
“We’re feeling really hard done by that we could’ve done better. We’re not at that level yet, we’ve done well, but defensively we need to do a lot better.”
Life in WNPL doesn’t get any easier for Southern this weekend as it heads off to face second ranked Calder United on Saturday.
The local derby – Berwick City versus Casey Comets – was emphatically won by the Comets 3-0 off the boots of Katherine Crow, Jovana Mitrovic and Jessica Mcauslan. Casey Panthers was the other local winner, with a 2-0 triumph over Kingston City.
In men’s results, Dandenong City went away and came home with a 4-2 win over St Albans – on the back of goals to Gonzalo Freddi (17’), Luke Burgess (55’) and new recruits Amir Osmancevic (78’) and Josh Frame (90+3’).
Berwick City conceded five at the back to Langwarrin in a 2-5 defeat, Casey Comets succumbed 0-3 to South Springvale, Doveton SC fell 1-2 to Doncaster Rovers, Casey Panthers were thumped 0-8 by Dandenong Warriors while Hampton Park United bucked the trend to take a 2-0 victory over Lyndale United.
