Goals in the minutes either side of the half-time break sparked Flames to a two-goal win over Services in their Tamworth womens first grade match-up on Saturday night.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The 3-1 result was a welcome turn around in fortunes having not had a lot of success against Services this season.
“It was a handy win for us,” Flames coach Barrie Pritchard said.
One of the major differences he identified from their previous clashes was they took their opportunities better.
They also defended collectively a bit better.
That defence was put to the test early with Services earning a couple of penalty corners.
Flames were able to diffuse them and the game remained locked at 0-all until the 32nd minute when Services went ahead 1-nil.
Flames hit back in the shades of the break, Naomi Spark making a solid hit across the face of goal that was tapped in by Anneliese Frear, for a goal on first grade debut.
Spark was again the instigator as Flames went ahead 2-1 early in the second half, dispossessing a Services defender and then passing off to Tegan Smith, who dove to beat goalkeeper Michelle Collins.
“We had a good run for about five or six minutes,” Pritchard said. Albeit to no addition to the score.
Services then enjoyed a little run of their own before Spark sealed the points with a direct hit off a penalty corner in the last minute of the game.
Pritchard said Spark, Ash Allen and Julie Rodda were strong in the midfield.
Brydie Wellham also had a good game in a central defensive role. Mel Allen and Anita Diehm were also solid in defence while Sophie Littlejohns played well at right half.
South United meanwhile had a mixed weekend, thrashing Tudor West 10-nil on Sunday after going down to Waratahs 3-1 on Saturday night.
“Our first half (against Waratahs) wasn’t great but at half-time we talked about a few things we had to work on in the second half and they went out and attempted to do that,” Souths coach Andrew Davy said.
One of things they spoke about was getting more width and depth in their attack.
The first half they were a bit narrow and weren’t stretching Waratahs enough.
“We (also) weren’t posting up to support either from the back or the sideline.
“When we had a free hit we were too far away,” he said.
He felt they had the better of the second half, particularly the latter part as their fresh legs started to come into play.
“We had enough chances I felt to even up the game but we couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net,” Davy said.
That wasn’t a problem on Sunday.
They were after Saturday night a bit slow to get going, but got better as the game went along and led 5-nil at half-time.
“It was nice to put the ball in the back of the net. It’s something we’ve struggled to do consistently,” Davy said.
