Olympic Women Earn Fire Draw
Words: Matt Dorman
Image: Sam Attwood/Sunshine Coast
Olympic FC Women fought from two goals down to claim a 2-2 draw against Sunshine Coast Women at Sunshine Coast Stadium on Sunday.
The hosts were on track for their third win of the season before two quickfire goals in the second half extended Olympic’s unbeaten run to three matches.
Sofie Persson netted a hattrick in Fire’s last outing and continued that fine form early in proceedings, putting her side ahead in just the 11th minute.
Olympic pressed hard for an equaliser but Dave Bensted’s side retained their 1-0 lead to the break and doubled that advantage seconds after the restart.
Cassie Burns and Danielle Collins combined to tee up Samara Christmas, who finished from just outside the area to make it 2-0 with her ninth of the season.
The away side needed to respond to avoid a second defeat of 2015 and were rewarded for their persistence shortly after the hour.
Midfielder Ai Matsuzaki first pulled one back in the 67th minute to increase her tally to six goals in as many matches before Jessica McLean got on the end of a direct ball from deep to level it up at 2-2 six minutes later.
It remained that way at the final whistle, handing both teams their first draw of 2015.
Speaking after the match, Fire coach Dave Bensted believed his side was fortunate to claim a point in the end.
“We’ve ended up with a point which in truth we probably didn’t deserve. We went 2-0 a little bit against the run of play and we’ve ended up with a draw so I’ve got to be quite happy,” Bensted said.
Olympic coach Phil Canham felt his side missed an opportunity despite wiping away the deficit.
“It’s nice to come back from 2-0 down to claim a point but ultimately I think it’s three points lost rather than one point gained,” Canham said.
Listen to the full post-match interviews below.
Sunshine Coast FC Women 2 (Sophie PERSSON 11’ Samara CHRISTMAS 46’)
Olympic FC Women 2 (Ai MATSUZAKI 67’ Jessica McLEAN 73’)
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