Sunday, March 10, 2019

Olympia beat Lions with last-minute extra-time goal


Photo:   Olympia's co-captains Innocent Michael (left) and Maddie Black raise the Summer Cup as coach Alastair Russell applauds [PlessPix]

(Women’s Summer Cup Final, KGV Park, Saturday, 9 March 2019)

Olympia Warriors 1 (J Mamic 119’)
Kingborough Lions United 0

HT:  0-0   FT:  0-0  AET:  1-0   Ref:  M Piesse

Olympia Warriors:  Farrow;  Black, Bomford, Chambers, Davies, Leszczynski, Mamic, Michael, Puli, Russell, Williams  (Subs:  Allanby, Cure, Flack, Marino, Quinn)

Kingborough Lions United:  Gardner;  M Cane, Clifford, Davis, De Smit, Horgan, James, Lawson, Manuela, Moore, Tatton  (Subs:  I Cane, Dadswell, Edwards, Hart, Hennekam, Hickman, MacKintosh, Ollington)

Photo:  Olympia's Maddie Black and Kingborough's Laura Davis contest a cross [PlessPix]

Kingborough Lions United produced a magnificent performance to hold Olympia Warriors scoreless for almost 120 minutes.

Zoe Horgan was at the heart of everything that the Lions produced.  She was superb in midfield and her running and physical strength enabled her to help out in defence and in attack as well.

Hanna Manuela held things together at the back and snuffed out most of the danger from Olympia’s attacks with her reading of the game and her strength on the ground and in the air.

The Lions’ main attacker, Laura Davis, was unable to break through and score.  During the week, she had shown how dangerous she could be by scoring all four goals in the 4-2 win over Hobart Zebras, but the Olympia rearguard, organised by captain Maddie Black, had her measure in this game.

Photo:  Kingborough's Hanna Manuela foils Olympia's Josephine Mamic [PlessPix]

Olympia used the wings well and Bonnie Davies and Maddison Chambers were fast and dangerous throughout the match.  The fact they didn’t score is a tribute to Kingborough’s defence.

Olivia Bomford, Josephine Mamic and Heather Russell were not their usual effective selves, but bad luck also played a part in their performances.

Kingborough goalkeeper Olivia Gardner was brilliant.  Late in normal time she produced a lightning reflex save after a deflected shot threatened to sneak in at the right-hand post.

Gardner was desperately unlucky when Olympia finally grabbed the winner in the final minute of extra-time.

She made two point-blank saves and the ball also bounced back off a post before a jubilant Mamic netted to give the Warriors the silverware.

It was an exciting match and the large crowd was certainly entertained.

Photo:  Kingborough's Emille Tatton clashes with Olympia's Olivia Bomford [PlessPix]

Olympia Warriors coach, Alastair Russell, said:

“It’s going to take me a while to recover after that.  That’s the type of game we’ve been looking forward to for a long, long time.  A real battle.  We haven’t had it and I’m unbelievably proud of the girls.  It’s so difficult when you haven’t been playing in a high intensity situation to come out like that and play in it and then go to extra time and we had a couple of injuries so we didn’t have that many changes that we could make.  It bodes really well for the Super League and we’re so happy to be back.

Photo:  Action in Olympia's goalmouth [PlessPix]

Kingborough Lions United coach, Simon Edwards, said:

“I think we need to work on our work in the forward third.  I thought it was a fairly even contest.  I think, if we’d taken our chances a bit better, we were there.  I think the girls pressed well and put them under the pump.

“A really good experience for the young girls to actually have a final like that that’s gone to extra-time.  It challenged a few of them mentally, which was good.”

Photo:  Kingborough's Phoebe Clifford controls the ball ahead of Olympia's Bonnie Davies [PlessPix]

Photo:  Kingborough's Zoe Horgan (centre) watches as team-mate Christabelle Moore gets the ball away from Olympia's Jade Williams [PlessPix]

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