Gators Glide Past Power
Words: Bree Reidy
Image: Chris Simpson
The Gap FC Women hold onto pole position with a 3-0 win over Peninsula Power FC Women at Walton Bridge Reserve on Saturday.
Three unanswered goals sees Gators keep close rivals Eastern Suburbs FC Women at bay for another week after they temporarily held top spot earlier in the day.
The hosts had the first chance of the game after just five minutes when Ruth Blackburn got a head to Summer O’Brien’s free kick but was unable to keep the ball from hitting the cross bar and going over.
Power’s Jessica Scicluna sprang into action in the 25th minute to deny Suzy Roeger but the deadlock was broken three minutes later when Gabe Marzano tucked the ball away on her second attempt after first hitting the post.
The visitors were unable to capitalise on a number of free kicks and corners that went their way in the first half as Gators kept piling the pressure on.
Megan Price had the chance to double the host’s advantage in the 36th minute but wasn’t able to find her mark, the ball hitting the crossbar on its way over the goal.
Roeger made amends for her earlier attempt by unleashing a powerful low strike past Scicluna to make it 2-0 to the hosts going into the break.
Blackburn all but sealed the deal for hosts 20 minutes into the restart when she was allowed room to move before slotting home Gators 3rd goal of the night.
Gators’ defender Charli McLennan looked get herself on the scoreboard three minutes later only to hit the crossbar that had been denying her team mates all night.
Power’s Brittany Whitfield had a chance to bring one back for the visitors after making a break away run from the midfield only to be stopped short in the box by Catherine O’Neill.
Speaking after the match, Gators player Ruth Blackburn is pleased with how far her side has come from the start of the season.
“We’ve definitely improved on the things that went wrong the first time we played against Peninsula, on those transition moments and we’ve gotten better at reacting to direct play,” Blackburn said.
Power head coach Gary Ellis took plenty of positives from his team’s performance against quality opposition.
“We’ve been working on a few things [structurally] and we’ll continue to work on that but the girls have done their job and it was great,” Ellis said.
The Gap FC Women 3 (Gabe MARZANO 28' Suzy ROEGER 44' Ruth BLACKBURN 65')
Peninsula Power FC Women 0
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