It’s crunch time

Teenager Nicola Prins scored the Casey Comets’ sole goal in their 4-1 loss to South Melbourne on the weekend. 32784 Picture: Stewart Chambers

By Marc McGowan
TOP of the ladder one week to fighting for finals survival the next.
That’s where the Casey Comets find themselves after a humbling 4-1 Women’s Premier League defeat to bogey side South Melbourne at Bob Jane Stadium on Sunday.
South Melbourne stars Laura Spiranovic and Aimee Benton had a field day against the Comets, with the latter scoring a brace for the second time this year against the visitors.
Casey took a five-game winning streak into the contest, but was no match for the physical South Melbourne line-up.
Benton scored from the penalty spot in just the third minute before Comets striker Nicola Prins produced the equaliser with the 13th goal of her brilliant rookie season.
But Spiranovic restored South Melbourne’s lead a minute later and Benton added another in the 23rd minute.
Prins looked set to cut the margin to one right on half-time, but failed to get a touch on team-mate Alex Gummer’s cross.
The hosts continued to dominate the flat Casey side, but it took until the 86th minute for Spiranovic to net her team’s fourth goal.
Comets coach Debbie Nichols lauded goalkeeper Emma Bracken’s performance for the second straight week and was also pleased with central midfielder Jeni Black’s display.
But Nichols admitted to being ‘absolutely gobsmacked’ at the rest of her players’ efforts.
“They chose their worst performance of the year for their biggest game of the year,” she said.
Nichols had a frank discussion with the players at training on Tuesday night about their intentions for the rest of the year.
“It’s going to come down to how badly they want to play finals football because if they don’t make finals they can still walk away with their heads held high,” she said.
“They were relegation candidates, so you can’t complain about where they’re at, but it’ll be ‘Are they happy to settle for that or do they want something more?’”
Black is unavailable for this Sunday’s catch-up away clash with Bendigo at Epsom Huntly Reserve due to work commitments.
Casey must win to maintain its finals’ hopes, with tough fixtures against top-four clubs Heidelberg United and Box Hill to finish the season.