Let’s check out the mini-reviews from Round 2 of the National Premier Leagues Northern NSW Women's competition.
Catch up on all the action below!
Match of the Round
Broadmeadow Magic 5-1 Mid Coast FC
Adriana Konjarski scored four goals as Broadmeadow continued their perfect start to the season with a 5-1 victory over Mid Coast FC on Sunday.
The reigning NPLW NNSW player of the year opened the scoring in the 12th minute at Magic Park when she latched onto a Middies back pass and cooly fired the ball past Grace Davies.
Konjarski scored her second 10 minutes before half-time when she tapped in from Lucy Jerram’s cross after good work down the right from Kiarra Lewis.
Things went from bad to worse for Mid Coast when player-coach Emma Stanbury was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Jerram just before the break, with referee Jake Cooke-Ringrose adjudging Stanbury to have denied an obvious goal scoring opportunity.
Konjarski sealed her hat-trick just before the hour mark when she got on the end of a delightful Kalista Hunter through pass to again around Davies and finish calmly.
Magic made it 4-0 five minutes later when Jerram tapped home a scuffed Konjarski shot that appeared to be curling wide after a strong run down the right from Liz Shorter.
Gemma Murphy-Waters pulled a goal back for the visitors with 15 minutes to play with a sharp finish.
But Broadmeadow scored their fifth and Konjarski’s fourth of the afternoon when Hunter pinged a quick free kick out to Lewis on the left, who cleverly slipped the ball through for Konjarski to again go around Davies.
“[Konjarski] gets into positions to score goals. It’s what she does,” Broadmeadow coach Jake Curley said.
“In the first 20 minutes [against New Lambton in round one] she had four goals in the back of the net. Two were very close offsides that were ruled out.
“It’s just what she does. She links play, she gets in great positions, she knows where to be. To be fair it doesn’t bother me if she scores 40 taps in, she gets into the areas she should be.
“Last year one of the issues we had was we’d get into some really good positions for crosses but we didn’t consistently have someone in the right positions to get on the end of them. That’s what AJ is here for. She was sort of the missing piece.”
Konjarski, who won the competition golden boot last season with 38 goals for premiers and champions Warners Bay, already has six goals in the opening two games with her double against New Lambton last week.
Jerram also put in another strong performance following up from her hat-trick of assists in the opening round.
“[Jerram] is a very good player,” Curley said.
“She’s been with us from the first year and she’s always similar in what she does. She’s very good one on one and can beat players.
“Her issue more than anything else was that final delivery maybe but you can see it’s getting better and better.”
Stanbury was disappointed with her send off but upbeat about her young team’s performance.
“I did watch the tackle back and if I was on their team I would have been screaming for a red card too. It was probably a fair decision from the ref,” Stanbury said.
“It was pretty clumsy from me. There was absolutely no intent to injure or anything like that but it was denying a goal-scoring opportunity. That’s the way it is in football sometimes.
“It was a testament to the girls’ resilience. Going down to 10 players right at the end of the first half and having to come out for the second half and keep their heads high and not give up. They got a goal as well down to 10 against a club that a lot of people have tipped to win the competition.
“It was a massive effort from the girls. We’ve got to regroup this week. The part I was most disappointed about was the red card being right at the end of the first half. I was looking forward to getting the girls in for a chat at half-time to refocus on the second half only 2-0 down.
“There were a few things to fix and [the send off] was a punch in the gut. We had to readjust and lost an extra player up front. I think if we had the same 11 going out for the second half with a few different messages the result could have been different.”
Newcastle Olympic 3-2 Maitland FC
Maitland coach Keelan Hamilton was left disappointed after a pair of key defensive lapses saw the Magpies fall to a 3-2 defeat to Newcastle Olympic on Sunday.
Hamilton returned to the sideline after missing the opening round defeat to Charlestown Azzurri on Young Matildas duty and saw his side make a perfect start at Darling Street when Sophie Jones headed home from a Madeline Howard corner in the 13th minute.
The hosts were finding chances difficult to come by until the 23rd minute when Maitland conceded a soft equaliser after Olympic defender Zoe Horgan launched a hopeful free kick from halfway towards the top of the penalty area.
Olympic striker Sophie McDonald brushed aside Maitland defender Sawyer Hall to gain possession before calmly finishing past Annabella Thornton.
Olympic took the lead five minutes into the second half thanks to another sloppy piece of defending from the visitors. This time Georgia Amess robbed Emily Wicks as Maitland attempted to play out from the back.
Amess then danced past Hall before squaring to McDonald who calmly rolled the ball past Thornton.
Just like in round one though Maitland showed great resilience to equalise at 2-2 when Howard’s free kick from distance flew over Jayla Murphy’s head with half an hour to play.
But just like in round one, the Magpies conceded a later winner having dragged themselves level. Olympic midfielder Elodie Dagg robbed Sophia Laurie in the middle of the park before finding Jemma House.
House sliced through the heart of Maitland’s midfield and defence, forcing the incredibly unlucky Tahlia Gossner to turn the ball into her own net after winning the ball from House with what initially looked to be a classy sliding challenge.
“The result is obviously disappointing. It was very similar to round one in that the performance was ok but we’re disappointed with the goals we gave away,” Hamilton said.
“Particularly the first two. It was really poor defending on the first goal from us. We don’t deal with it. We should have dealt with it better, shown more desire because the first contact is poor.
“The decision-making on the second goal is really poor. We played into the press and then the reaction after losing possession is poor. So the first two goals are from our own really poor defending.
“I think it’s moments in our defending. Our front third defending is good, we caused Olympic some problems which got us control for the first 20 minutes and enabled us to win the ball back in good areas to attack.
“It was a single moment in the first half that was the difference. Other than that Olympic didn’t have too many opportunities. And that moment was a combination of poor individual and team defending. The second half was two transition moments, which was the same as last week. I just think we need to look at our preparation defending in particular, our decision-making in possession and improving that poor reaction.
“It’s frustrating because it was a good team performance. But again we didn’t get the result.”
Maitland were also without goalkeeper Imogene Tomasone, who suffered a suspected fractured thumb at training on Thursday.
Tomasone was due to see a specialist this week with Hamilton hopeful of no fracture. Though her absence allowed Newcastle Jets Academy product Thornton to make her first grade debut.
“We’ll find out more this week with Imogene. We’re not 100 per cent sure. She went to the ER and got an x-ray, so far there’s no fracture but we just want to be sure. Fingers crossed there is no fracture,” Hamilton said.
“It was great for [Annabella] to make her first grade debut. She did some really good things like punches and catching high balls and some other really good things that show her potential. She also did some things that show she is a young goalkeeper and still learning and developing.
“But overall she did well and showed she’s got a promising future as a goalkeeper and she’ll only get better as she builds that experience.”
Maitland will look to bounce back when they return to Cooks Square Park for the first time this season to host New Lambton in the match of the round on Sunday.
Newcastle Olympic will be out to continue their perfect start to the season when they make the long trip to Taree to face Mid Coast.
Warners Bay FC 1-8 Adamstown Rosebud JFC
Doubles to Charli O’Connor and Eva Donnelly helped Adamstown Rosebud to a commanding 8-1 victory over Warners Bay FC on Sunday.
O’Connor put Adamstown in front after just two minutes at John Street Oval with a powerful header from a corner.
Ellyse Lynch added a second on 14 minutes with a strike from distance before Mia Owens made it 3-0 just before half-time with a fantastic half volley from just outside the penalty area.
O’Connor found time to score her second with a replica of her first to make it 4-0 at the break with another strong header from Jenna Doyle’s corner.
Rosebud needed just 40 seconds of the second half to make it 5-0 when a swift counter attack saw Maddy Campbell find Ash Vetter with a brilliant long through pass, with Vetter squaring for Tanya Jones to score her fourth goal of the season.
Warners Bay pulled a goal back 11 minutes into the second half when an Adamstown mistake playing out from the back allowed Callie Thomas to fire home past Olivia Sneddon.
Rosebud restored their five-goal advantage on 65 minutes when Tara Cousins found Donnelly with a long through pass.
Donnelly had her second two minutes from full-time when she lobbed her finish over Georgia Cooksey after the Panthers had failed to clear a corner before substitute Heidi Hunton added an eighth in added time.
It does not get any easier for Warners Bay who, having conceded 24 goals in their opening two games, travel to Lisle Carr Oval to face unbeaten Charlestown Azzurri on Saturday.
Adamstown will look to continue their unbeaten start to the campaign when they welcome heavyweights Broadmeadow to the Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility on Saturday night.
New Lambton FC 0-3 Charlestown Azzurri
Charlestown Azzurri were the fourth club to make it two wins in a row to start the season when they downed New Lambton 3-0 on Sunday.
Azzurri had to wait until the second half to open the scoring at Alder Park when Lily-Jane Babic fired past Ally Boertje following a quality through pass from Indianna Asimus.
Sarah Halvorsen made it 2-0 with 10 minutes to play following a scramble in the penalty area.
Charlestown had to wait until added time to secure the three points when Emily Diaz fired high past Boertje.
Azzurri will look to keep their 100 per cent record intact when they host struggling Warners Bay on Saturday, while New Lambton will chase their first points of the season when they travel to Maitland to face the Magpies on Sunday.