Woonona opened up a four-point gap between themselves and Kiama with a 1-0 win over the Quarriers at a blustery Ocean Park. In a match where both sides were without a handful of regulars, the Sharks took the lead after two minutes through Ainsley Hawes and they were able to keep the visitors at bay to record their seventh win of the season.

The only goal of the match came after an attacking raid down the right wing from Sinead Bailey whose cross was cleared only to Hawes inside the box who tucked the ball into the bottom left corner. The Sharks nearly had a second through a similar piece of play ten minutes later - another Bailey cross from the right found Fiona Leafe who hit the ball just past the left post.

Woonona’s Ashleigh Broadhead had a couple of efforts on goal in the middle period of the half. The first in the 24th minute which saw her lash the ball past the left post and five minutes later she had another attempt from a similar position but this time the ball sailed over the top right corner.

Woonona also had the final clear-cut chance of the first half with five minutes remaining. Morgan Potter knocked the ball in from the left, it was headed down to Leafe who was unable to direct her shot on target.

The hosts had a couple of chances early in the second half to double their lead but some solid goalkeeping and a lucky deflection saw the Quarriers remain in the contest. In the 48th minute, Bailey hit in a corner for the head of Kelsey Clements who steered the ball on target but it was well held by stand-in custodian Shantelle Smith. In the 55th minute, Leafe got a shot away in the right of the box which deflected off a Kiama defender and onto the right post before going out for a corner.

The visitors had the better of the final stages of the match, however, like the entirety of the match, they were unable to really test Khalia Rasch in the Woonona goal. Kiama came agonisingly close to stealing a point with five minutes remaining. Alex Stronach lined up a free kick 30 metres from goal and her solid drive went narrowly wide of the top left corner. Woonona were able to hold out for the final few minutes to secure the three points.

The win keeps Woonona in third place and six points clear of Balgownie in fifth. After the match, Shark’s coach Mick Sutton admitted his side did well to limit Kiama in attack, however, he wished his side could have found a few more goals to kill off them off.

“The first five minutes we played all over the top of them and got the goal nice and early but then we had so many more opportunities that we should have put away so we most probably need to look at that final third a bit more,” Sutton said.

Sutton also acknowledged the efforts in the middle of the park as well as how his side are still in with a chance of stealing second spot after recovering from a bumpy month-long spell.

“Her [Ainsley Hawes] and Kelsey [Clements] really worked their butts off and produced some really good plays going forward. They switched the ball really well which opened up a lot of play for us and a lot of opportunities came from there which was good,” Sutton said.

“The girls lost a little bit of focus [in the middle of the season] but they’ve started working hard again at training and things are starting to pay off well for them so we’re looking forward to the finals.”

Next weekend Woonona host Balgownie who go into the match on the back of three wins on the spin, the latest being a 1-0 win over Russell Vale.

As for Kiama, they remain in fourth but their five-point advantage over the fifth-placed Rangers has been cut to two. They return to the Quarry next weekend to take on last-placed Thirroul who will be playing their second match in three days.

 

Sunday 8 July @ Ocean Park

 

Woonona Sharks - 1 (HAWES 2’)

 

Kiama Quarriers - 0

 

Woonona Sharks - Sinead BAILEY, Hannah BROADHEAD, Kelsey CLEMENTS, Kayla DRAPER, Sara HAMILTON, Ainsley HAWES, Georgia LANG, Fiona LEAFE, Morgan POTTER, Khalia RASCH, Kate STEWART, Jorda WHEATLEY, Rachelle WILSON, Ashleigh BROADHEAD, Meika QUINN

 

Coach - Mick SUTTON

 

Kiama Quarriers - Megan BLANCH, Caitlin CARDWELL, Tamara DUCKITT, Allira GILES-GREGORY, Kari GONZALEZ, Josie-May IORIANNI, Brooke PERKISS, Shantelle SMITH, Alex STRONACH, Rebecca WELSH, Louisa WOOD, Hayleigh FISHER, Carolyn MACKENZIE

 

Coach - Umberto SORRENTINO

 

Referee - Gary FREEME

 

Report and photo by Dylan Arvela, on Twitter @dylanarvela