W-League: Wanderers continue losing streak at home

With what was deemed as a very positive start for the Western Sydney Wanderers, their inability to defend goals in crucial moments saw them on the wrong side of a 5-1 belting handed down by Newcastle Jets.

Within the opening minutes, Newcastle Jets worked their way through the Wanderers defence with a shot on goal that was fortunate to be saved.

Despite this, the Wanderers W-League side had a corner in the fifth minute that almost gave them an early lead but sadly this opportunity was wasted.

The Western Sydney squad played with fast momentum and confidence, which was very much contrasted to their previous games. This was seen through their prevention of Rhali Dobson’s terrific run that also demonstrated vast improvements in the Wanderers defence since their historic and horrific 10-1 defeat a mere two rounds ago.

Helen Petinos from the Wanderers challenged the Newcastle keeper almost gliding the ball into the top corner of the net with Newcastle taking a similar attacking stance, with Georgia Yeoman-Dale attempting a long-rang shot which flew behind the goal.

The first half saw an infinite amount of opportunities for both W-league sides with Demi Koulizakis executing an amazing cross that barely got pushed over by the Newcastle keeper.

Koulizakis certainly created most of the chances for the Wanderers in the first half with a one-on-one opportunity with the keeper but managed to kick the ball entirely away from the goal.

The 31st minute saw the first major substitution in the game and goal, with Koulizakis coming off and being replaced by Grace Henry along with Michelle Carney managing to completely shut down the keeper resulting in the Wanderers first and only goal in the game.

Tensions were certainly reaching their boiling point around the 40th minute with three yellow cards given in the space of five minutes.

Newcastle Jets player Angela Salem was involved in some serious pushing and shoving with Helen Petinos, along with Linda O’Neill receiving one due to her participation in the scenario.

But the yellow cards did not stop there with Rhali Dobson receiving a card during the three minutes of extra time.

The first half concluded with three minutes of additional time with a heap of chances that saw Michelle Carney shooting the ball over the edge of the goalkeepers box.

During this time, the positive lead for the Wanderers diminished. Newcastle Jets Captain Emily Van Egmond sent a powerful ball that was not stopped by Wanderers goalkeeper Trudy Burke.

This exemplified a pattern in the Wanderers conceding statistic where many goals are conceded during the final minutes of the first and second half.

The opening of the second half of the match saw both teams come out with a fiery attitude, yet this saw Katherine Reynolds put out the Wanderers fire scoring the second goal for the Newcastle Jets in the 46th minute.

Newcastle’s passion certainly did not cease post-goal, with Van Egmond luckily not receiving a yellow card for a very late tackle that hypothetically could have certainly changed the future path of the game.

The Jets continued their goalscoring streak from a corner piece which saw Wanderers keeper Burke exit the box but unable to prevent Tara Andrews from scoring, bringing their lead up to 3-1.

The Wanderers were not disheartened by the lead with Helen Petinos leading a corner which gave Caitlin Cooper the velocity to shoot a great ball that was just tipped over the edge of the goal post, with the next corner taking a similar outcome.

Tara Andrews once again got the better of Trudy Burke and slotted the ball right into the far-reaching corner of the net taking the Newcastle Jets to 4-1 in the 59th minute.

Burke was involved in one of the best saves of the match, warding off Dobson who tried to run her down and sneak the ball into the back of the net.

The 66th minute saw Cassidy Davis coming off and Brooke Miller for the Newcastle Jets in conjunction with the Wanderers continuously giving the ball away which eventuated in Amber Neilson taking a long-range shot that just flew over the net.

Despite improvements in the Wanderers defence, Georgia Yeoman-Dale increases the Jets lead to 5-1 in the 75th minute, forcing the Wanderers to make some serious substitutions following the goal.

Tia Gavin comes on to replace Grace Henry for the Western Sydney Wanderers W-League side, with Newcastle Jets replicating the substitution bringing Grace Macintyre on and goalscorer Yeoman-Dale off in the 76th minute.

Newcastle Jets had open ground to shoot with Burke forced out the box, but massacred the opportunity, shooting the ball into the furthest possible distance away from the goal.

The Wanderers continued with their substitution streak with Linda O’Neill coming off and replaced by Rhianna Pollicina in the 79th minute.

The team representing Western Sydney almost seemed to slow down their tempo during the final 10 minutes of play, not fighting for any opportunities with the ball and not completing their passes.

Newcastle Jets made their final substitution of the game with Rhali Dobson coming off in the 85th minute, only to be replaced by Clare Wheeler who certainly had a lot of energy adhering to the fast tempo Newcastle was exuberating.

With three minutes of additional time, the Wanderers made a dire effort to try to resurrect the game with a couple of great shots that flew over the net, but they were unable to change the final score with Newcastle Jets certainly making their presence known in Western Sydney.

The final score sat at 5-1 with questions needing to be asked about the Wanderers W-League sides focus during the second half of the match which ultimately saw them concede four goals.

The Western Sydney Wanderers W-League will next take on cross-city rivals Sydney FC on the 26th of October, with hopes that they will secure a win after this poor start to the season.



Western Sydney Wanderers starting XI: Caitlin COOPER (C), Jessica SEAMAN, Helen PETINOS, Rachael SOUTAR, Kendall JOHNSON, Keelin WINTERS, Michelle CARNEY, Hannah BEARD, Demi KOULIZAKIS, Linda O’Neill and Trudy BURKE (GK)

Substitutes: Grace HENRY, Rhianna POLLICINA, Tia GAVIN and Shamiran KHAMIS


Newcastle Jets starting XI: Emily VAN EGMOND (C), Hannah SOUTHWELL, Georgie YEOMAN-DALE, Hayley CRAWFORD, Katherine REYNOLDS, Angela SALEM, Victoria HUSTER, Amber NEILSON, Tara ANDREWS, Rhali DOBSON, Cassidy DAVIS

Substitutes: Grace MACINTRYE, Clare WHEELER, Brooke MILLER and Claire COELHO (GK)