WHEN Souths decided to crack out its victory song in the dug out instead of waiting until they got back to the change rooms on Saturday afternoon at Bob Roach Field, it was the perfect reflection of how much the 2-1 win over Orange CYMS meant.
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CYMS had won four games straight heading in Saturday's match, its successes including 4-0 wins over both Bathurst City and St Pat's.
On top of that the Orange side had scored 12 times in its last three games and conceded just twice through four rounds.
But Souths was ready for the challenge. Chris Stafford's side led 2-1 at the end of the first quarter and that was how it stayed even though CYMS piled on the pressure in the last 20 minutes.
"It definitely is an upset, they were undefeated," Stafford said.
"It was good to get a win up, get some more points on the board - that's always nice - and the girls are gaining in confidence.
"To beat a team like CYMS, we know how well drilled they are, we know how well drilled Pete [Shea] has them, so you've always got to play your top game to beat them.
"I think we stretched them, which I don't think happens too often, and we probably did everything we could to let them back into in that last quarter, but that just comes from being a young side and we need to learn how to shut out those close games."
It was a strong attacking run from Meg Booth - drawing a penalty corner - that created the opportunity for Souths' first goal.
Though CYMS goalkeeper Kim Kiel blocked the first shot from Sophie McCauley, Souths won the ball back and the passage of play ended with a Danielle Fisher goal.
CYMS hit back on nine minutes as Sarah Jackson scored from a breakaway, but McCauley blasted in from the left edge of the circle in the 12th minute to put Souths back in front.
While that was were the scoring ended for the match, it was certainly not the last opportunity.
In the third quarter Souths custodian Kate Brown made a nice glove save to deny Jade Georgiou, while young two blues forward Sam Porter had an attempt roll across the face of goal.
In the final term CYMS piled on the pressure - earning four penalty corners and firing in a number of shots from the field - but Souths held on. Mandy George, Tahni Isedale and Nikki Braun all made big tackles.
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"We have sort of stacked our defence a little bit - but that last 20 minutes of the game we started to panic a little bit," Stafford admitted.
"I thought we dominated that area of the field for that first 40 minutes, it was that last 20 when some of our more experienced players started to realise how big this win would be for us and that's when we started to turn over a bit of ball."
For CYMS coach Pete Shea, the result was both disappointing and frustrating. He felt his side did not produce the sort of performance which had seen them string four wins together to start 2019.
"We didn't play very well, to our standard today. Taking away nothing from Souths, they out competed us today well and truly," he said.
"But we did things today that we haven't done all year, our basics, our core skills were pretty poor today.
"Souths played well, they put us under pressure, their defence is organised so we had to execute a bit better today and we didn't do that. Going down 1-0 then 2-1, scoreboard pressure is always a big thing."
