Clare Polkinghorne: Round Seven

Unfortunately not all football games produce a great spectacle for those who are watching. At times, a team is just glad to come away with the win, no matter how it is achieved.

Last weekend's W-League clash between Brisbane Roar and Adelaide United was one match we were just happy to come away with the points - without too much focus on the way we played. Of course there are countless things for us to work on from that game, but at the end of the day we played with 10 players for the majority of the game. Karla Reuter’s red card in the first half of the game, with us leading 2-1, blew the game right open.

A struggling Adelaide, without a win this season, had a numerical advantage over us, and with their aggressive tackling style may have even had the psychological advantage. They also had the home ground advantage. However, we had the advantage on the score board as well as quality players to see out the game. It was definitely not a pretty game to watch and left many people, probably both on and off the field, very uninterested. But sometimes that is the way you have to go about winning a football match.

Being 2-1 up, with a goal not long after Reuter’s dismissal making it 3-1, we didn’t have to take risks to win the game. We had to do the simple things right and work hard with a numerical disadvantage. Coming away with a 3-1 victory was a good result and a wins a win.

In our next match, 3pm Tuesday at Perry Park, we take on Canberra United for the second time this season. We played Canberra down in Canberra in Round 2, which ended in a draw. With only four games (and two byes) remaining in our short season every game is going to be important. Canberra is only two points behind us on the ladder and they have one more game up their sleeve.

This weekend’s game will give us a good indication of how far we have come from the beginning of the season and will be one of our biggest tests this season. With the likes of Sally Shipard, Caitlin Munoz, Lydia Williams and Michelle Heyman in their side, Canberra is proving to be one of the teams to beat this season. Their pre-season labelling of the darkhorse is proving to be a fairly accurate estimation. They are the only team to be undefeated so far this season and we are hoping to change that this weekend. It’s going to be a massive game, so if you are in Brisbane, come along to Perry Park on Tuesday to watch a great game of football.

Playing a Friday night game last week has left us with one more day than usual to recover and prepare for the match against Canberra. We have had a solid week on the training pitch and are finalising our preparations. This week we welcome back Amy Chapman who has missed the last few weeks through injury and I am predicting she will have a cracker against her former team. It is also a game in which Tameka Butt can get herself back on the scoresheet. She has been looking very sharp at training and will no doubt cause problems for the Canberra defence. Can’t wait to get out there and play!

Clare is a girl with a strong passion for football and the womens game in particular. Captain of W-League side Brisbane Roar, Clare is also a current Matilda. Catch the W-League every week at your local ground, or if you cant make the game live on ABC1. To read Clare's other columns for The Football Sack, click here!