Annerley Get Season Off To A Flyer
Annerley 5 (Sweeney 22’, Smith 33’, Coyne 41’, Donsky 80’, Birleson 90’) Souths United 0 HT: 3-0 Played at Elder Oval.
Annerley cruised to a resounding win in their opening fixture of the season, showing why they are so prominently regarded as Championship contenders in this year’s Mt. Franklin Women’s Premier League.
Congestion in the back third of Souths goal stemmed Annerley's flowing football early, but a fine through ball from Annika Coyne sent Daisy Welsh through, Serena Conyngham came out to smother though in what would become somewhat of an early trend. Souths spent a lot of the first 10 minutes inside their own half but did well to keep Annerley from really attacking Conyngham’s goal. Another precise ball from Coyne gave Annerley and Rebecca Sweeney their first decisive chance of the game, but out came Conyngham to smother once more. A patch of quality was provided by Souths who played good attacking football out wide, using long balls and overlaps to stretch the Annerley defence. It was Isabella Krecek who sent a ball in after some overlapping play, but no one in the green and white hoops was there to convert. Annerley did the same moments later when Coyne embarked on a surging run down the right flank to send a ball to the far post for Welsh, but she failed to convert with her knee. Some more great football from Annerley gave star striker Donna Smith the space to play a ball across goal, and Sweeney converted scoring from close range into the bottom right corner relatively unopposed. Playing out from the back invited pressure on Souths, and a poor clearance across goal allowed Sweeney another good chance to score but she was denied this time. Smith showed some brilliance with a superb strike from 30 yards into top bins to give the girls in Blue a 2 goal lead. One-twos and overlaps seemed to be the feature of the first period with both teams looking to exploit each-other with the overload. Annerley proved they were better at playing them, when Maddison Rejtano found some space on the edge of the box and tried to recreate some Donna Smith magic, but fired just over the bar. Battling brilliantly in the middle of the park, Courtney Donksy won possession and played a pin point ball slicing through the heart of the Souths backline for Coyne to convert with only Conyngham to beat. United almost had a sniff just moments later however, when Krecek sent Rence Montgomery through, but the attack was scuppered when Gemma Layfield came out to collect. Conyngham showed some great athleticism late in the half, to produce a double save, with the aid of the crossbar, to keep her side from entering the interval 4 goals down. Early in the second half Smith showed her strength, when she maintained control under heavy pressure and played an incisive ball across goal for Sweeney, but she could only manage to shoot wide. Kate Lawson was amongst the best in Capital League 1 last season but she struggled in this game with her side having a lack of possession - her brightest moment coming when she was able to play a superb ball out wide for Montgomery. But she was unable to produce a ball testing of Layfield. Whatever it was that Paul Lonton said at half time, it seemed to work as Souths really showed some resolve in the opening 20 minutes of the second period. The girls looked much more resilient at the back and held Annerley's attack at bay. Their brightest moment of the game came when Montgomery played an excellent one-two with her number 9, which gave her bundles of space, but she was unable to muster a shot capable of testing Layfield. It was Smith again causing problems in and around the box for Souths. This time she found herself on the edge of the area with plenty of room, but couldn’t find the finish to really put the game to bed. Sloppiness at the back finally broke the resolve of Souths in the second half as Donksy found herself with the ball, close to goal and she fired into the back of the net with ease. From here Annerley continued playing their brand of football and consistently found the room to shoot and would have been further ahead if it weren’t for the ability of Conyngham. In the dying moments of the game Conyngham made her first real mistake of the game coming out to collect a ball she really shouldn’t have. A touch from her own defender gave Jaymee Birleson an opportunity to lob the ball back over Conyngham and into the net, rounding out a well-deserved victory for the Annerley Women.
Coaches Remarks:
Anthony Costa (Annerley) “I’m very happy with the girls, first half especially we moved the ball very well. I’m glad we ended up getting 5, I think we had 30 something shots on goal and would’ve been nice to get a few more away. But all in all I think we moved the ball very well and deserved the win.”
Paul Lonton (Souths United) “For our first game I was quite pleased, the score-line on paper doesn’t look flattering. Our preparation has been disjointed, we got put back into the Premier League late so we’ve had to work doubly as hard for this. We’ve lost players in mid-week due to injury and unavailability, but that’s not an excuse. Annerley were very good and moved the ball around quickly. But I’m very very pleased with our performance and it makes me more confident for the rest of the season.”
Match Stats:
Overall Possession: 62% - 38% Shots on Target: 18 - 2 Shots off Target: 14 - 1 Corners: 14 - 1 Free Kicks: 6 - 2 Offsides: 2 - 0 Yellow Cards: 0 – 0 Red Cards: 0 - 0
Team line-ups
Annerley: Gemma Layfield (GK), Georgia Appelhof, Jaymee Birleson, Cindy Carroll, Annika Coyne, Courtney Donsky, Mariko Kirkcaldie (83’), Mollie O’Connor, Maddison Rejtano, Donna Smith, Rebacca Sweeney, Daisy Welsh
Subs: Mariko Kirkcaldie (83’), Rachael McNamara (78’), Melissa Pirlo (75’),
Souths United: Serena Conyngham (GK), Isabella Christensen (79’), Isabella Krecek, Kate Lawson, Alexandra Martin, Megan McDonnell, Kelsie Minty, Rence Montgomery, Shayne Lock, Bianca Claroy (78’), Alice Watson (79’), Subs: Bianca Phillips (78’), Charlotte Mace (79’), Amy Armistead (79’) REFEREE: Benjamin English
