SUNDAY'S Bathurst District Football women's first grade clash between Eglinton and CSU looked on paper to potentially be a top quality contest, and that's what spectators got.
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A long range bomb from Eglinton's Zoey Wade in the second half was all that could separate the two teams in the 1-0 result, as the women in blue and yellow capped off a busy weekend positively.
Eglinton had narrowly gone down 1-0 to Panorama FC just a day earlier in the competition's top-of-the-table clash and the team showcased their depth and fitness by flipping that result around against the Vixens in another challenging game.
"That possession play is something new to us. We've really developed that as a team over the past two years," Eglinton coach Ian Crook said after Sunday's victory.
"I think our effort was great today. We only had eight first graders and the rest came up from seconds, and I know it was a similar story for CSU as well. Everyone really stepped up and it was a great game to watch.
"We had a game yesterday against Pano and we only got beaten 1-0 with eight first graders. This weekend was a big ask for them but they did really well."
Eglinton's strong possession game was on full display throughout the opening half hour of the game, while CSU's best opportunities routinely came from long balls behind the defence.
The first big opportunity for Eglinton came from their first corner of the match, where a headed effort was cleared away.
CSU then had the chance to open the scoring instead with a counter attack but a shot attempt was missed just outside the six yard box.
Through the middle of the opening half Eglinton's Lauren Clemens became involved in a string of scoring opportunities for her team down the right wing.
In the 16th minute Clemens' pass put Tayla Slattery into space before her cross narrowly missed several waiting feet in the penalty area.
Clemens herself fired another dangerous cross in from the right side several minutes later as her team started to dominate field position.
Another Eglinton corner led to a nervous moment for the Vixens.
A perfect delivery from Wade inside the last 10 minutes of the half led to a lengthy scramble in front of the goal before CSU managed to clear the ball out of danger.
CSU keeper Arielle Madew managed to cut off another dangerous cross from the right wing to deny Eglinton just before half-time.
Clemens nearly got her side in front within the first minute of the new half when her firm strike to the top right corner was stopped by Madew.
CSU's best only genuine opportunity of the half came eight minutes later when Rose Irving had space to shoot from close range but the ball went just left of goal.
It took something special from Wade to finally break the deadlock.
Wade received the ball just inside the CSU half and delivered a shot from around 30 metres away to catch Madew slightly off her line.
CSU's defence did a great job to limit the damage to just a single goal as Eglinton started to turn up the tempo across the last 20 minutes.
The best chances for Eglinton to double the advantage came on a free kick from just outside the penalty area and a Poorsha McPhillamy attempt from the same spot.
The first of those was saved while the second was to the right of the mark.
EGLINTON FC 1 (Zoey Wade 57') defeated CSU 0
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