The Newcastle and Adelaide women’s teams have played out an entertaining 3-3 draw in their Round 6 Westfield W-League match at Wanderers Oval in Newcastle on Saturday afternoon.
A Leia Smith strike gave the Jets a well-deserved lead in the 19th minute before goals to Tenneille Boaler and Rachel Quigley saw Adelaide take a 2-1 lead into half-time.
The visitors extended their lead with a penalty to Quigley just before the hour mark. But the Jets stormed home via goals to skipper Hayley Crawford and Renee Cartwright to earn a hard-fought draw.
The result sees Newcastle and Adelaide remain at the bottom of the Westfield W-League ladder on three points each but the display ensures both teams have plenty to look forward to for the rest of the season.
Newcastle captain Hayley Crawford was positive after the result.
“Obviously we would have preferred to win but we showed great character to come back into the game after being down 3-1,” she told Sportal.
“If we can start games the way we finish them then we will get that win we are looking for.”
The game started at a lively pace despite light rain falling at the opening whistle. Adelaide found plenty of space down the right flank with Donna Cockayne and Georgia Champan combining well to force some early corners.
Down the other end, Smith and Crawford looked dangerous up front and the pair combined to score the opener.
Good play through the midfield put the Jets on the attack and Crawford delivered a lovely ball to put Smith in space on the left wing. She took the ball into the area before slotting past Sian McLaren in the Adelaide goal to make it 1-0 after 19 minutes.
Adelaide hit back six minutes later when Champan’s corner was only partly cleared by the Jets defence. Boaler steamed onto the ball to slam home a long-range effort from outside the penalty area to make it 1-1.
Both sides attacked with venom with Jets goalkeeper Alison Logue and McLaren making some excellent saves to keep the match deadlocked.
Adelaide snatched the lead right on the stroke of half-time when the visitors switched the point of attack from the right to the left flank where Quigley motored into the penalty area and poked a shot past an advancing Logue to give United a 2-1 lead at the break.
The Jets came out firing to start the second with Crawford and Cartwright only denied by desperate scrambling defence from Adelaide.
The visitors’ third goal came when Jets defender Stacey Day was given a yellow card for obstruction when defending an Adelaide corner. Quigley stepped up to convert from the spot despite Logue getting a hand to the shot.
Newcastle made it 3-2 almost immediately when Smith sprinted into space on the right before crossing for Crawford to head past McLaren to make it 3-2 just on the hour mark.
McLaren kept her side in front with a couple more strong saves but she was unable to deny the equaliser in the 79th minute. Newcastle forward Kate Hensman provided a lovely through ball for Cartwright who stabbed the ball inside the far post to make it 3-3.
Logue produced a fine save to deny Boaler in injury-time while Cartwright fired over the crossbar in the final seconds as both sides searched in vain for a late winner.
Boaler said the result was a good one for Adelaide United, who picked up their first goals of the season.
“It was good to get some goals and hold a lead but they fought back hard,” she said. “In the end though, there were some positives signs there for us.”
Newcastle Jets 3
(Smith 19, Crawford 60, Cartwright 79)
Adelaide United 3
(Boaler 25, Quigley 45, 57pen)
