Casey women still in the chase

By Gavin Staindl
THE COMETS women are still a chance to play finals despite not making any ground on fifth-placed Ashburton.
Casey remains six points out of finals contention after salvaging one point from a scoreless draw with South Melbourne at McIvor Reserve.
The deflating draw appeared to have knocked the Comets out of finals contention but when news filtered through that the highly fancied Ashburton only managed a draw against the Preston Lions the optimism of making finals returned to the Casey camp.
“We’re still in with a sniff,” Casey coach Debbie Nichols said.
“We are still in the same situation we were in last week when we were two games out of the top five.
“Ashburton still needs to fall into a hole for us to get through but we had a 100 per cent improvement on last week and if we can improve again this week … then we won’t be done and dusted just yet,” Nichols said.
With the Casey defence taking care of the South Melbourne assaults, it was up to the Comets forward line to find the back of the net.
Casey had the first chance of the match to score but Lisa Cloke’s one-on-one with the goalkeeper soared over the cross bar and on a day where opportunities to score were limited by the “bubbly and uneven” pitch, capitalising on scoring chances was vital.
Casey again had another chance to take the lead in the second half when Tahlia Silivestros found herself with metres of space at the edge of the box but a rushed attempt to score sailed wide of the post leaving the Comets ruing a missed opportunity to peg back Ashburton’s two-game lead.
“Our defence and midfield were superb and goalkeeper Emma Bracken didn’t have to make a save all day,” Nichols said.
With only four rounds left, the Comets still need a mini-miracle, and with four of Casey’s starting 11 expected to miss this Sunday’s clash against Heidelberg, perhaps even a miracle will not be enough.
Youngsters Cloke, Silivestros, Alex Gummer and Laura Haws will all miss next week’s must-win match due to school commitments leaving Nichols with no choice but to pick from an already depleted reserves team to fill her squad.