All eyes will be on Parramatta Stadium in the final round of the Westfield W-League next weekend where the last finals spot will be up for grabs, following an intriguing penultimate round of matches.
Two more sides confirmed their places in the four-team finals series to be held in January, with Newcastle Jets 2-0 win over Sydney FC and Canberra United-s 3-2 win over Melbourne Victory meaning they will join Queensland Roar, who are confirmed to be there.
Sydney FC and Melbourne will both be in action at Parramatta Stadium next Saturday, albeit in separate fixtures, to see who will be the fourth team into the finals.
In other matches played this weekend, Queensland accounted for Central Coast 2-0, while in the battle of the bottom two, Perth Glory-s resurgence continued with an emphatic 3-1 win over Adelaide United that gives them an outside chance of a finals spot.
Results – Round 9
Adelaide United 1 lost PERTH GLORY 3
NEWCASTLE JETS 2 beat Sydney FC 0
QUEENSLAND ROAR 2 beat Central Coast Mariners 0
CANBERRA UNITED 3 beat Melbourne Victory 2
Game Wraps
Perth Glory gave itself an outside chance of a finals spot with a superb second half performance in defeating Adelaide United 3-1 at Hindmarsh Stadium. After a scoreless first half, of which Perth had the better of the opportunities, it was Marianna Tabain that broke the deadlock six minutes after the break. She burst through the Adelaide defence and made no mistake with her shot. After going close on several occasions, Collette McCallum got her reward in the 71st minute when Reds keeper Sian McLaren made a terrible blunder allowing herself to be robbed of the ball on the edge of the area; the ball falling to McCallum who had the easy task of stroking into the empty net. The points were wrapped up with four minutes remaining McCallum laid on a superb cross for Elisa D-Ovidio, who had time to drill her shot past McLaren. Adelaide grabbed a consolation goal through Sandra Scalzi.
Newcastle Jets have guaranteed themselves a place in the finals with a Kate Gill first half double enough to see off a Sydney side that has severely dented their play-offs hopes. It was a strange match as Sydney will rue a host of missed chances in the game, having doubled the amount of shots on goal. But Westfield Matilda striker Gill proved the difference, when she scored a goal from almost 25 metres out on the turn. Newcastle then bombarded the Sydney goal and it was Gill who added a second goal eight minutes later when she stabbed home after shrugging off the challenge from Lisa Gilbert. It was an attacking contest and the second half saw Sydney really take the game to Newcastle with Leena Khamis, like she did in the first half, having several excellent chances to score. However it just wasn-t to be her day as she was continually thwarted by Alison Logue and Rebecca Smith, who made a magnificent last-ditch clearance off the line to deny Khamis late in the match. Newcastle remains second and a win next week will secure a home semi final.
A late winner from Amy Chapman has sealed a valuable 3-2 win for Canberra United that has ensured they will part of the inaugural Westfield W-League finals series in January. Canberra looked to be heading for a good 1-0 win over Victory, when the match suddenly went into overdrive in a frantic final 10 minutes of the match, with the pendulum swinging from one team to the other. Canberra captain Ellie Brush had given Canberra the lead with 10 minutes remaining of the first half, but it was the final 10 minutes of the match that had the Canberra crowd sitting on the edge of their seats. Sarah Groenewald equalised for Victory in the 82nd minute, only for Kara Mowbray to put Canberra back ahead a minute later. But in a frantic four minute spell Marlies Oostdam leveled the scores up once again with a shot that gave Lydia Williams no chance. With both knowing a win would secure their finals berth, it was all hands o deck and it was Chapman that delivered a spectacular goal in the third minute of injury time. Her 30 metre left foot shot sailed into the back of the net despite the best efforts of Melissa Barbieri in the Victory goal. While Canberra-s place in the finals is secure, Melbourne must now beat Central Coast to ensure their place in the finals ahead of Sydney.
Central Coast Mariners slim finals hopes came to end, after going down to runaway leaders Queensland Roar 2-0 at Ballymore Stadium. The Mariners showed some tough resistance generally throughout the match, but two goals in a six-minute spell after half time proved the difference. Courtney Beutel continued her impressive form of late with yet another goal to open the scoring. After going on a solo run, she curled a magnificent shot past Mariners keeper Emma-Kate Dewhurst. It was 2-0 shortly after when Lana Harch ran onto a long ball, which Dewhurst had also decided to come for and the former Matilda lobbed the ball over the stranded keeper and into the empty net. Queensland has now stretched its winning run to seven games
Weekend Goals Tally: 13
Card Count: 9 yellows – 0 reds
Leading Goalscorers
6 – Leena Khamis (SFC), Courtney Beutel (QR), Katie Gill (NJ)
5 – Kyah Simon (CCM), Lana Harch (QR)
4 – Lauren Colthorpe (QR), Sandra Scalzi (AU), Marianna Tabain (PG)
3 – Sharon Black (AU), Renee Rollason (CCM), Lisa De Vanna (PG), Trudy Camilleri (CCM), Alicia Ferguson (QR), Caitlin Munoz (CU), Ellie Brush (CU)
