Thea Slatyer: Sydney outplayed... again?

There were no surprises at training the other night after a partly embarrassing performance on the weekend - Monday's session was a very heavy one.

We began each with a ball at our feet doing a mixture of skilled based drills in a small squared area and would change on Staj's command. It's a drill I personally dislike and something that you rarely practice at this level but I think we were being punished more than anything.

Many of us were still sore and stiff from the game, carrying some minor injuries. I have had some blood blisters on the soles of my feet for about a week now, likely to be aggravated from training the past couple of weeks on artificial turf that heats up to what feels like boiling point in your feet. This mixed with constant pivoting and compression causes the blisters to form.

Our legendary physio Sunny Sidhu was kept busy throughout the session attending to various players.


The game on Saturday couldn't have started any worse with us receiving a severe wake up call in defense when Devana broke the back line several times before we got a handle on things and started dropping much earlier to deter the balls being hit over head.

Sydney's performance this week not as glam as the AFA Awards

We didn't look dangerous for most of the first half, continuously losing possession through unforced errors which fueled Newcastle's assault on us. The girls' heads were down after every mistake. Someone yelled out 'Drop earlier!' I yelled back 'keep possession then!' - after trying some positive reinforcement we still couldn't achieve composure and we conceded two goals after being caught out.

The second goal came from an attack up the right flank, one of our midfielders bypassed me while tracking a player so I stepped up a line to cover the player with the ball, not aware that the hole behind me was so big that it created a gap for Newcastle's offense to fully utilize and they executed well.

The half time talk in the change room was heavy and Staj waited a few minutes before saying a word. You could cut the tension with a pair of scissors. Most of it was pointing out the obvious, that the effort level was not there, the standard was awful, it was embarrassing and pretty much Staj's worst nightmare. After about seven minutes of hard criticism I started getting restless and wanted to hear something more constructive. He gave us the ultimatum that if we played to our potential we could still win, the alternative was not desirable.


We went back out as a different team and pressed their midfield and defense up both sides of the field making breaks and keeping the ball in their half. They made far fewer attacking passages of play than in the first half and we had improved 100 percent compared to our first half performance and eventually the shot came off Rollo's boot, as we all watched the back of the net ripple like water - much to our relief!

Our girls were yelling to grab the ball out of the net so we can speed up the kickoff and keep the momentum going. For the next 20 minutes we pushed for the second goal and had several chances but could not execute.

There was a close call when we were caught out at the back holding the ball for too long and Devana's speed struck again with a counter attack and suddenly I found myself making a fifty yard diagonal sprint to intercept Devana at the penalty box. I caught up with her enough to either slide tackle or make contact, opting not to slide as the chance of a penalty kick being awarded was too much of a risk.

Instead, I got close enough to make contact with her putting her slightly off balance so the shot was not clean knowing she should have hit it a split second earlier. With seconds to go the ball went out for a throw in and I chased it as fast as my muscles and lungs would allow me to at this point in injury time - I was still on anti biotics from a bout of the flu that a couple of girls had also caught. I threw it in and it was perfectly placed for our right winger but a mis-kick put it over the byline and the score remained 2-1 Newcastle's way. Our comeback into the match had come to a screaming halt.

We had an impromptu talk from the coach after the game which almost never happens, we all emerged from the changerooms shoulders slumped and depressed. We had picked up our game but it had all been too little too late. New Year celebrations were slightly subdued post game but at some point you have to pick yourself up and carry on. Newcastle had planned it from the start, it was a must win for them to save their campaign and they caught us off guard which won't be happening again. I read an interesting article in the Sun Herald which was very favorable to the Jets mentioning that they had out played us 'again' and it was a case of 'deja vu'. Was this a reference to the last time we met Newcastle when we won 4-1?

Preparation for our away game against Perth continued last night. Yesterday I was traveling the south coast where I am working at my new job testing a Learjet for surface cracks and defects using non destructive testing techniques. We used the radiography method which involves carrying out x-ray inspections on the fuselage of the aircraft.

We travel to Perth today to play on Saturday in aim to redeem ourselves from our recent loss. Someone once said when you lose, don't lose the lesson. It couldn't be more true for us.

Key player for Westfield W-League side Sydney FC, Thea is also a current Matilda with a strong passion for womens football and the sport in general. Catch the W-League every week at your local ground or if you can't make the game watch it live on ABC1. Read Thea's other columns for The Football Sack.