Herald Women’s Premier League Grand Final
Cardiff v Broadmeadow
2:00pm Saturday 29th August
Adamstown Oval
Cardiff and Broadmeadow met today in the match both sides had been striving towards throughout the inaugural season of the Herald Women’s Premier League.
Cardiff breezed through to the Grand Final after becoming Premiers, while Broadmeadow ended the season in 2nd place and earned their position opposite Cardiff after defeating Maitland 2-0 last weekend during the Semi Final.
The kickoff was taken by Cardiff, with Captain Gema Simon along with Taleah Doyle, Leia Smith and Nicole Jones, making their presence known in Broadmeadow’s box right from the early stages of the game.
The first opportunity of the game came from a corner kick off the foot of Smith, though in a close call Broadmeadow cleared the ball away from the goals and denied Cardiff an early lead.
Three minutes into the match, Broadmeadow finally pushed the ball into Cardiff’s half, while Deb Carlin’s long goal kicks provided Broadmeadow with the momentum to create their own opportunities.
Broadmeadow were looking overrun by Cardiff’s shots on goal, but managed to create their own chances at the opposite end of the field, though a long shot by Captain Harmonie Attwill and a later free kick from just outside the box taken by Rachael Alley went unconverted.
Cardiff continued their usual attacking form, however a ball slipped to Doyle from Kirstyn Pearce went straight to the hands of Broadmeadow keeper, Conni Osborn.
Broadmeadow began to hit back against Cardiff and equal their opposition’s goal attempts, but neither side was able to capitalise to take the lead before the halftime whistle.
Eager to start the second half, Cardiff were back on the field before Broadmeadow and the match officials and ready to continue on their endeavour to find the back of the net.
Cardiff’s Rhianni Cipta added her feet to the attempts on goal, while Osborn continued to show her impressive ability to halt the onslaught of shots being dealt to her.
A double shot of corners for Cardiff looked like a goal, but once again went unconverted by the squad and the game remained gridlocked and goalless.
Ten minutes into the second half, Broadmeadow’s Attwill sent a long shot sailing on target, but the ball flew over the crossbar and later teammate Ashley Wilson performed a difficult bicycle kick to turn the ball around for a clear shot on goal, but was stopped by Cardiff keeper, Lauren Up-John.
Minutes after her impressive bicycle shot, Wilson with teammates Tracey Baker and Jaime Picken drew Up-John from her goals for a direct path to a goal, but were called offside and once again the first goal of the game went begging.
The shots kept coming towards both Broadmeadow’s and Cardiff’s goals from all over the park, but both sides were luckless and could not claim the lead before the end of the second half, forcing the game into extra time of 15 minutes each way.
Cardiff’s intensity had dropped, while Broadmeadow had found their form during the second half which enabled star of the Semi Final, Wilson, to grab the lead in the 4th minute of extra time after some worthy lead up work by Attwill, leaving their side cheering.
The game was not over yet, as ten minutes later and just one minute before the extra time changeover, Wilson managed to repeat her earlier feat, slotting the ball straight past Up-John, to push Broadmeadow’s lead to 2-0.
Trailing by two goals, Cardiff still had 15 minutes of extra time, but were unable to find a goal of their own, leaving Broadmeadow victorious and the first team to be named Grand Final Winners of the Herald Women’s Premier League.
After turning Broadmeadow’s team dynamic around upon entry into the position of coach midseason, Cheryl Salisbury admits that she was hard on the squad to get the job done.
“I think initially when I first came in I was a bit tough on them and I changed the way that they played and the shape of the team so I did make a lot of changes but I think to the girls credit they took that on board and they went with it,
“What you saw out there today was fantastic players and I think they’ve done a marvellous job,” said Salisbury.
As for Ashley Wilson’s four goals over the past two games and being the only player to score during both the Semi Final and the Grand Final, Wilson couldn’t be happier.
“It’s actually a pretty awesome feeling, coming back from injury I wasn’t really sure how I’d hold up but I guess I was excited to play and it came out on the park and it’s good to score against Maitland and Cardiff – two really quality opponents and two tough matches, so I guess last week’s semi filled me with a lot of confidence and a bit of a slow start but lucky we got there in the end I guess!” said Wilson.
Salisbury is happy that Wilson listened to her orders to hit the ball on target to come away with the two goals, but believes that the whole team played an integral part in their Grand Final victory.
“She went in the second half and hit the target twice and scored I think we had a few more chances after that but you know it’s not just attackers, we’ve got the best defensive record in the league and I said to the girls today it doesn’t matter if we defend for 80 minutes as long as we score one goal we’ll be fine, so I think our defensive team especially Erin across the back, Deb that’s played awesome all year – for a previous national team keeper to play like she does on the field according does a marvellous job, the amount of work Shelley does in the midfield – it’s a great credit to all of those girls,” said Salisbury.
Well done to Broadmeadow for becoming the first side to take home the trophy in the inaugural season of the Herald Women’s Premier League and no doubt we’ll be seeing the side back to defend their title next year.