WESTERN NSW Mariners FC’s bid to qualify for the State League Women’s finals series is almost complete following a 3-0 victory over Mount Druitt Town Rangers FC on Sunday.
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Heading into the final four rounds of the season the Mariners knew a defeat would spell the end of their push, but they have so far risen to the challenge.
Sunday’s success over Rangers at Lithgow’s Majorie Jackson Field moved Mariners into fourth – where they need to be to take part in the finals.
It means if Mariners can win or draw against University of New South Wales this Sunday in the last round of home and away fixtures, they will earn a finals berth.
“As far as I’m concerned it’s a must win even though [Sunday’s] win put us into the top four,” Mariners coach Jason Payne said.
“Saint George beat Uni 1-0, so Saint George goes into second spot with Southern Districts third and us fourth, but that’s on for and against.
“Going into the next game against Uni we can afford to get a draw, but a win would be nice going into the finals. It’s going to be a tough game – winner takes all sort of thing.”
The Mariners had twice defeated Rangers before Sunday’s match in Lithgow and showed intensity from the opening whistle as they looked to make it three in a row.
Despite the different style of play from the rivals, the match was played at a high tempo.
While Mariners custodian Tanielle Michael was able to clean up any attempts made on her goal, down the other end Jasmin Courtenay found the mark.
It gave the Mariners a 1-0 lead, but Payne still wanted his side to alter things in the second half.
“They pushed us, it was a fairly fast-paced game all game, for the 90 minutes. I said to the girls at half-time ‘Look we are going to have to play this smart,’ because going into the break we were starting to die and they were starting to get on top of us,” the coach said.
“They were playing long balls over the top and we were turning and chasing, but even when we had the ball we seemed to be going forward at a fairly hectic pace.
“So I just told the girls that in the second half we needed to be smarter with the ball when we got it, try and slow it down to save some energy.
“They started to burn out a little bit too.”
While the Mariners had calls for a spot kick denied after a rival defender handled the ball, Teegan Courtney and Poorsha Mcphillamy scored to make sure of the result.
It was the Mariners’ ninth win of the season and gave their for and against a further boost. They are on +42, while University of NSW is on +28.
“We were probably a little bit unlucky not to get a second goal before we did get that second,” Payne said.
“The ball was played into their 18 and one of their defenders stuck her hand up over her head and the ball has come off her hand.
“But the referee and linesman somehow didn’t see it even though the hand was well above everyone else’s head.
“So it could’ve been 4-0 … but it was nice to get a 3-0 win over them at the end of the day.”
Payne will have all but one member of his squad available for the clash with Uni on Sunday, which is good news for the Mariners.
Uni has won the two prior meeting between the pair, winning 4-3 and 2-0.
