Capital
2 Northern Football 1
National
Women’s League
Petone
Memorial
Sunday
20th
November
Att
about 120
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| Jayme-lee Hunter celebrates making it 1-0 to Capital The JourneyFan |
This was
potentially Capital's last game of the season, with only 1 round in the league that meant only 6 games and this was Capital's 6th. However they are one of the 4 teams in contention the top 3 places in the league. These are important as
these places get you into the finals.
The
permutations of what was needed by whom were way to complicated to
work out. Today's game was probably going to be Capital's toughest of the season. Northern are the defending champions, were unbeaten and had beaten Canterbury 3-1 earlier in the season. While Canterbury had beaten Capital 3-1 last week and last season Capital suffered a record 11-2 thrashing from Northern, so a draw or a loss by only 1 or 2 could probably be seen as a good result. Thankfully the Capital team didn't share
my pessimism.
Northern
started the game playing with the wind and almost had the ball in the
net after 3 minutes with a shot that went just over the crossbar.
Capital responded with 2 shots in 2 minutes, but it wasn't to be an
end to end game with a lot of it being played in the middle of the
park, this however didn't make it any less entertaining. Northern
played the first half sitting back a little and allowing Capital to
come at them, it would have seemed a reasonably sensible tactic had it
not been for the wind which was having an noticeable impact on the
game.
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| Everyone misses the corner The JourneyFan |
It was 0-0 at
half time and while Capital were playing well, there was still a
feeling that Northern could easily step up another gear if they
needed to. After half time though it was Capital who stepped up and
with the wind behind them were pushing Northern back. Then they won a
corner in the 57th minute, Briar Palmer floated a lovely
ball into the six yard area and was missed completely by attackers,
defenders and Northern keeper, Anna Leat, before Capital's Jayme-Lee Hunter found the ball at her feet and prodded it over the line.
While this
made the Capital players and fans ecstatic, it annoyed Northern and
they responded immediately with Jane Barnett scoring almost straight
from the restart. It was a timely reminder for Capital not to take
Northern lightly. Ten minutes later, just after Emily Morison had
come on for Maggie Jenkins, Capital got another corner. Palmer again
floated a lovely ball over, and the ball found it's way back to
Morison on the penalty spot who despite close attention from Tessa
Berger managed to get a shot away and make it 2-1 with her first
touch of the game.
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| Emily Morison gets her shot away despite Tessa Berger's attentions The JourneyFan |
This time
Capital kept their concentration from the kick off and kept Northern
at bay, and continued to do so until the final whistle. Northern are a great team, skillful and physically bigger than the Capital team, but it was Capital's day today they played with more tenacity and simply wanted it more than Northern. The players were always there for each other,and it was a superb team performance. If Capital have a
player of the match award, I don't envy the person that had to pick
it!
The result
puts Capital top of the table and confirms them a spot in the top 3,
where in the top 3 all depends on next weeks results. Assuming that
Canterbury beat Central at home, then the best result for Capital
would be a WaiBOP win or a draw as that should give them a home
semi-final. Whatever happens it shouldn't bother this team too much
as they seem to have a great team spirit, the desire and ability to
win the championship.
Footnote
The fact that
this could be the last time I see Capital play at home this season,
after only 3 games in a crying shame. At present it does feel as if
the National Women's League is run by NZF as a box ticking exercise
to ensure they can receive more grants from the likes of FIFA.
The
2015 NZF competitions review did give the Women's National League a
cursory mention but the only long term plan seemed to be a vague idea
that the club's in the Men's National League would eventually run
Women's teams as well. How, when and whether this would work is a
whole other debate to be had.
What should
happen now is that the league is extended to a become a full home and
away round robin competition with 8 teams, it's the very least the players and fans
deserve.
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| Capital celebrate Emily Morison's goal The JourneyFan |
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