SOCCER
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IT was a draw, but the Western NSW Mariners FC players celebrated Sunday’s 2-all result against Bankstown City FC as though they were winners.
Given their equaliser came in injury time with just 40 seconds remaining and they had trailed 2-0 at half-time, the reaction was understandable.
The NSW Women’s State League match at Proctor Park was expected to be hotly contested with both the Mariners and visiting Bankstown side boasting plenty of attacking options.
The Bankstown striker that Mariners coach Adrian Cox had singled out as a threat before the match – Samantha Muscat – was the player who helped her side to the 2-0 lead.
Her pace and slick finishing skills left Mariners goalkeeper Jess Daymond with no chance of pulling off saves.
“She’s quality, she is just a quality striker. She really only had three chances and she scored twice,” Cox said.
Against a side that played the same sort of structured, possession football rather than kick-chase as the Mariners, the hosts needed time to adjust.
But in the second half after Bankstown were reduced to 10 players with the red carding of Georgina Stylianou, Western began their comeback.
Eight minutes into the second stanza Gillian Rosconi put her side on the board and she was there to slot home a Megan Embleton cross deep into injury time.
“We just needed to do what we had been doing, make sure we possess the ball. We spoke about it at half-time and that we needed to play a game based on possession and I think that showed in the second half as we tried to take control of the ball,” Cox said.
“Coming up against a team like that, now we know what we have got in front of us. I think we dominated that second half, we created more chances and we scored two goals compared to none for them. I think it means good things will come.”
The Mariners created two half chances in the opening minutes of Sunday’s match as Rosconi and Georgia Bennett found space out wide, but Bankstown soon showed their own attacking intent.
Muscat, who skippers Bankstown, out sprinted Western defender Megan McFarland to a through ball and Daymond to had to be quick off her line to shut the threat down.
Both teams continued to test each without really enjoying dominance, their similar playing style and skill level meaning time and space on the ball was hard to come by.
But with 29 minutes gone the visitors got on top as Muscat found the mark when shedding her defender and having an unchallenged shot after the ball was played in from the right wing.
Ninety seconds out from the break Embleton had a chance to put Western on level terms when finding herself in a one-on-one, but she put her shot wide. Bankstown were quick to counter from the resulting goal kick, Melissah Parlato streaking clear down the left wing before cutting back a cross which Muscat headed home.
But under pressure not to drop their second game of the season, the Mariners responded.
After some smart goalkeeping denied Embleton when she shot from a tight angle, a beautifully weighted Bennett through ball put Rosconi into space eight minutes after the resumption. She converted from the one-on-one.
Stylianou was sent off for her second infringement with 30 minutes remaining, but Bankstown held their structure well and it seemed as if Western would not be able to exploit the overlap.
But when Embleton, who had been a constant threat down the right flank in the second stanza, picked out Rosconi with a cross she tapped in to make it 2-all.
“It would have been frustrating if we didn’t win that,” Cox said.
“To come from 2-0 down, getting a goal and pushing until the final whistle to get that equaliser just shows the effort. You play to the last minute and that is what can happen, you can score at the death.”
WESTERN NSW MARINERS FC 2 (Gillian Rosconi 2) drew with BANKSTOWN CITY FC 2 (Samantha Muscat 2)