|
 Lionesses
remain in top five after round eight of WPL
Monday
12 May
2008
(Victor Sekulov) - The Preston
Lions Womens football team remain in the top five of the
Womens Victorian Premier League
after another gutsy performance on the weekend.
Going into the game against top flyers Ashburton was
always going to be difficult for the Lionesses as
Ashburton were unbeaten and sweeping all the other teams
aside with some polished football. Despite Preston's best
efforts the Lionesses went down 0-2.
To add to Andy Fry's (Preston's Head
Coach) woes was the fact that he was down three key
players in Ashleigh Kelly, Kate Christoff (both injured
last week) and Paula Massouh (away).
Furthermore captain Diana Picukovski was carrying a injury
from some bruising tackles of last week and was only half
fit. She was able to last only half the game and was
clearly out of sorts.
Ashburton started off briskly but Preston was able to hold
up their attacks. Veronique Guilbert was able to charge
down an Ashburton attack and break up another. With only a
few minutes into the game Ashburton had a corner. The kick
came in and the Preston defence were flatfooted. Diana
Piculovski tried to get to the ball, but her injury
restricted her movement and the ball bounced off her and
past Nabby Saliba into the Preston goal. It was 0-1. An
own goal, always a cruel way for a team to be a goal down.
But Preston did come back, first through Sarah Lovett who
hit one over the bar after a nice pass from Ruadh Houston
and the Peta Lipec had two chances, both going wide.
Ashburton were playing their excellent passing game but
could not add to the score as Casey Naumovski was busy
stopping their attacks on the left. Similarly the
Ashburton defence was well composed and held up the
Preston forwards.
Petra van Egmond stole the ball in the midfield and sent
Sarah on her way but the mobile Ashburton defence quickly
charged her down. Eva Rausch broke through the middle and
her shot went well over. Minutes later Eva passed to Sarah
Lovett but her one touch too many enabled Ashburton to
avert the danger.
Within minutes of that it was 0-2 to Sshburton. Some
excellent crisp passes by Ashburton played the ball just
outside the penalty area and the Preston defence were too
slow to react as the Ashburton player received the ball
and had the time to turn and shoot past Nabby Saliba.
Ashburton could have scored a third but Casey Naumovski
quickly charged down the shot and cleared the danger.
In the last minute of play in the first half the ball fell
nicely to Sarah Lovett and with only the goalkeeper to
beat her weak shot was easily collected by the Ashburton
custodian.
 The
second half did not see any additions to the score but
both sides had their chances. Ashburton went all out on
attack but Veronique Guilbert managed to clear the danger
yet again and Nabby Saliba was commanding in the air.
Despite the lovely fluid play of Ashburton's Casey
Naumovski was excellent in defence and even able to play
some penetrating passes up to the forwards.
One of Ashburton's best chances came from some clever play
which resulted in a great shot at goal. The save by Nabby
Saliba was world class, drawing applause from the crowd.
It was still 0-2.
Preston had their chances too. Peta Lipec played the ball
back to Sarah Sumner but her shot went well over. Sarah
Lovett showed determination to fight for and win a lost
ball. Her cross was palmed into play and Peta Lipec was
there to volley it towards the goal. Unfortunately it went
wide.
Preston had one more excellent chance to score when Julia
Baldwin picked out Peta Lipec with a quality through ball.
However Peta's shot was weak and the goalkeeper easily
collected the ball. Ashburton had a chance to score from a
free header but the ball went well wide.
Ashburton continue on their winning ways and Preston will
be fretting over the injuries of their players but should
look at the result with some pride. Last season Ashburton
beat Preston convincingly so with four players out the
Lionesses did everyone proud.
The Reserves lost 1-7 to the high flying Ashburton team.
It was a game of two halves with Ashburton taking a 1-6
half time lead. The second half saw a far more concerted
effort from the Cubs and after losing a player to a red
card and another to injury conceded a solitary goal in the
second. The Cubs had two excellent chances to score in the
second half but the bounce of the ball favoured the
Ashburton defence. Nevertheless the performance of the
second half was very pleasing and the players matched
their higher ranked opponents.
Next week sees Preston facing last year's runners up and
four time champions Box Hill on Friday night 16th May.
Photo's by
Pece
Siljanovski
Seniors:
Preston Lions WFC 0 – Ashburton
2
Reserves: Preston Lions WFC 1
– Ashburton 7
BT Connor Reserve
|
