Hayley Crawford: Upsetting the applecart

Our last home game for the season saw us take on a high flying Melbourne Victory who were looking to come to Newcastle and take three points to ensure a home semi final. Both teams were desperate but for very different reasons.

A win would see us climb out of bottom place and see us escape the wooden spoon (something no teams ever wants) and a Melbourne win would book them a home ground advantage for their semi-final against Perth Glory.

My team were confident heading into the match as we had just came off a good result in a 2-2 draw in arguably the hardest road trip in the league; to Perth who at that stage were leading the competition. We knew that we were building momentum, and though it was all too late we wanted to finish the season as strong as we could and have some pride in our performance.

Victory came out determined and before we knew it we were 2-0 down and the Melbourne girls looked like they were relaxed with the game in the bag. However once we were shocked into gear we showed true character and determination to come fighting back and in the space of a quick fire 90 second we were heading into the sheds at 2-2.

The game was a real arm wrestle with both sides creating plenty of chances and just after the break a scrap in the box lead to the Victory’s third goal; they were up 3-2 and we knew we had to give everything we had in the next twenty minutes to salvage at least a point.

We spoke at training that if we needed to go for the win we would change tactics and I would push into the midfield and try to go win the game. We did so and it payed off as I played a ball from deep midfield connecting with a great run from Kate Hensman who was fouled on the edge of the box by Melbourne ‘keeper Bri Davey.

Cool as you like Emily Van Egmond stepped up to the spot and converted the penalty to make the score 3-3.

The final few minutes there was some real action at both ends but the scores remained tied. Although not a win the result still means we escape the spoon on superior goal difference and shows that on any given day we can match it with the teams who have qualified for the finals.

Our season is over but I’ll be an intrigued fan of finals football over the next 2 weeks to see who will be crowned 2012/13 Champions.

This season has had many spectacular games and history suggests the Brisbane Roar v Sydney FC semi-final this weekend will be nothing short of mouth watering.

Good luck to all teams involved and hopefully I’ll see you all next season.

Hayley

Read Hayley's other columns for The Football Sack!

Club Captain for Westfield W-League side Newcastle Jets, Hayley has represented Australia at many levels including the Matildas. Catch the W-League semi-finals this week at your local ground or if you can't make the game watch it live on ABC1.

This season, the Newcastle Jets launched a Facebook page just for their W-League team, be sure to like it.