Waratahs’ Katrina Rekenouw tries to close down Olympians’ Dana Constable as Jess Thomas comes into assist. Photo: Geoff O’Neill 020912GOD06
TELSTRA Store Olympians scored two late goals to move within a game of the Tamworth women’s competition grand final.
They’ll play Services in the preliminary final this weekend after beating Waratahs 3-1 in the minor semi-final on Sunday.
Olympians scored first, with Dana Constable converting a penalty corner to put them 1-up, but Maddie Cryer tied the scores with what turned out to be Waratahs’ only goal.
Olympians eventually broke the deadlock through Petrina Clarke with about four minutes remaining.
Not long after, Brittany Parker popped in a third for good measure.
It was a result built on a strong defensive effort.
“I was really happy with the way we defended,” Olympians coach Andrew Farmilo said.
“They had their chances but we did scramble well in the circle.”
“Libby (Grills) made some good saves. She came out a few times and shut them down in the circle.”
“Dana (Constable) and Brit (Parker) worked themselves into the ground, Meg Lamph cover-tackled well and Georgia Cooper was like a rock at the top.
“They couldn’t penetrate.”
They were the main enforcers but everyone did their bit.
The attack wasn’t though as smooth as he would have liked.
“Because the midfield had to work so hard there was a big gap between the backs and forwards,” Farmilo said.
“We found it hard to go forward at times.”
Again they started well and would have had four or five short corners in the first 15 minutes, Farmilo said.
But they struggled to put their chances away.
“We should have done more with our chances,” he said.
“There were a lot of chances we absolutely bombed or didn’t contest.”
Waratahs coach Greg Doolan couldn’t fault his side’s efforts either.
That wasn’t what lost it, unlike other games over the season.
“They controlled our attack,” Dooolan said.
“We just couldn’t quite link into the strikers well enough to create good goal-scoring opportunities.”
He said before the game that they’d have to step up in the midfield and felt that would be where the game was decided.
“In the end their midfield was the difference,” he said.
“We tried to keep them out of the game but you can only keep someone like Dana out for so long.”
They couldn’t for long enough, although they had their share of possession.
“The build-up in the attacking 25 was good, but we couldn’t get outcomes,” Doolan said.
He said Anita Cryer and Jess Thomas were outstanding.
Maddie Cryer, Margi O’Connor, Sam Moxon and Mel Courtney also had strong games.
