The opening game of the season saw Adelaide United Lady Reds get off to a horror start, conceding a soft goal inside the first two minutes, then learn the harsh lesson that our fitness is still a way off that required for the W League BUT there were some positives to take from the game!
On a hot day, compounded by the 1.45 kick off time we could not have got off to a worse start really, allowing Canberra onto the front foot straight from kick off and having cleared that initial danger a seemingly harmless long ball wasn't dealt with and allowed the impressive Michelle Heyman to open the scoring after just 88 seconds. The girls visibly horrified with the opening responded well and started to claw their way back into the game. Canberra, one of the title favourites, were a constant threat going forward and but for a couple of last ditch tackles from Abby Erceg, Anna Green and some bright goalkeeping from Kristi Harvey, they could have extended their lead. However The Lady Reds created a few scoring chances of their own, with MJ going close to getting on the end of a few good crosses from Anna Green and Grace Henry, Rachel Quigley and Donna Cockayne starting to show a growing understanding and confidence going forward.With the first half coming to a close some good pressure in the Canberra defensive third led to a turn over of possession and MJ found Rachel Quigley inside the box and she lifted the ball over Matilda's No.1 Lydia Williams, to level the scoreline at 1-1. The score stayed that way until the break and it was no more than the girls deserved for their efforts.
In the second half the Lady Reds started brightly and enjoyed some more possession and Donna Cockayne started to look threatening down the right. Unfortunately Canberra's superior fitness started to show and as the Adelaide girls started to tire, experienced players like Sally Shipard and Michelle Heyman began to exploit the extra space provided them. The Canberra lead was restored in a slightly fortuitous manner when a low cross from the right was helped over Kristi Harvey by Caitlin Munoz. As stated in the Canberra match report, "The Adelaide of old may have crumbled after that but this group seems to be made of sterner stuff", in fact we almost equalised shortly after, when some good work on the right between Greta French-Kennedy and Donna Cockayne saw Greta's effort beat Lydia Williams but not the crossbar and the rebound fell tantalisingly short of the closing Racheal Quigley. A third goal was added as tired legs provided too much space in the Adelaide box and resulted in Caitlin Munoz getting her second after a turn and shot that found its way in off the far post. The fourth goal was a classy finish from Michelle Heyman, who produced a curling shot that left the well performed Kristi Harvey no chance, as it found its way into the top far corner of the net.
4-1 was probably a fair result for Canberra's dominance, particularly of the second half as we tired but our fitness will improve quickly as the season goes on and as we continue to work hard on the training field. That is one positive, a second is the fact that we played some football, we were able to have spells of prolonged possession and we were organised out of possession. There are obviously aspects of both our in and out of possession play we can and need to improve upon and our fitness needs to improve but all of this can be achieved with hard work.
Team: Kristi Harvey, Ruth Wallace, Anna Green, Abby Erceg, Racheal Quigley, Leanne Slater, Marijana Rajcic, Donna Cockayne, Emma Checker (Greta French-Kennedy), Grace Henry (Georgia Macri), Katherine Ebbs (Nenita Burgess) Sub: Ebony Philcox
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