WESTERN’S three sides finished with a win and two draws after the opening two rounds of the New South Junior Girls Championships being played out at Lady Cutler ovals yesterday.
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The Western 16s, captained by Dubbo’s Tayla Braithwaite, had a 1-1 draw with Metro West and finished with a 1-0 victory over Metro East to set them up nicely for the next two rounds today against Metro Far South and Metro South - sides that finished with one draw and a loss yesterday.
Western under-12s lost 1-0 to Metro West and then 2-1 to Metro East; while the under-14s held Metro West to 1-1 but lost 2-0 to Metro East.
The Western under-12s, coached by Bathurst’s Paul Morris with Gwenny Asimus (Dubbo) his manager, had a disappointing start to the tournament against Metro West.
Despite Western dominating the first half, the Metro attack found a chink in the opposition defence just after the break and Summer Richardson scored the only goal of the match.
Morris said he expected teamwork to improve as the tournament goes on.
“We’ve got girls in the side from Lithgow, from Young and Dubbo and Wellington and we’ve had a limited preparation for this tournament,” he said.
“What we did in this first game was good, very good, but I think we can improve.
“There were a lot of positives and we’ll work on that. Our attack was good and we enjoyed plenty of chances but didn’t finish them off.
“If we can back ourselves with half chances and shoot then maybe we can put the ball into the net. We don’t have to be in the square to have a shot.”
With the assistance of a strong breeze at their backs, Western did most of the attacking in the first half.
Dubbo’s hard-working midfielder Indianna Asimus had a busy game while the side’s captain Clare Hunt from Young was a power of strength, also in the midfield.
The skills of these two players were paramount and it’s obvious they will be pushing the ball forward at every opportunity.
Another strong performer in a good all round side was ‘keeper Kayla England from Blayney. Twice in the first half she was put under immense pressure but came up with saves on both occasions.
Metro West seemed certain to score midway through the first half when Cassidy Chidgey made a break and despite being one on one with England, the Western girl didn’t flinch and kept her goal intact.
Down the other end, chances came and went for Western with a Clare Hunt strike going to the left and then some untidy work in front of the goal by the Metro West defence didn’t amount to anything, despite the best efforts of the local girls.
Parkes player Kimeaka Evans and Ellie Carpenter (Cowra) also had opportunities for Western to hit the lead, but they just didn’t have the required result their side was looking for.
Today, the second day of the week-long carnival, will see rounds three and four with Western playing Metro Far South in the morning games at 9am (under-12s); 14s (10.15am); 11.30am (16s); while Metro South are in their opposition at 1pm, 2.15pm and 3.30pm for the three grades.
In the battle for Country Championship honours, Western will play Riverina Wednesday afternoon and Southern on Thursday afternoon.
The tournament ends on Friday with the final round and the winning teams will come from the most points accumulated through the eight rounds of round-robin competition.
