Defeats for Woonona and Kiama in Round 16 mean both sides will be looking over their shoulders at fifth-placed Balgownie, whose win at Fernhill takes them to within striking distance of the top four with a game in hand. University’s two wins in the last week guarantee them second spot on the ladder at the end of the regular season.

Fernhill FC 1-3 Balgownie Rangers

Balgownie made it four wins from five with this 3-1 victory at Ray Robinson Field on Sunday. The resurgent Rangers’ last defeat was against Fernhill, but Earle Canvin’s side have moved up a gear as the season enters the final straight, and still have a good chance of making the end-of-season Finals if recent form continues.

Chelsea Tasevski and Rikki-Lee Wardle scored the first two for Balgownie before 16-year-old Mikaylee Air scored her first goal in senior football via a 30-yard screamer.

Canvin was delighted with his side’s performance again: “Our defence was superb but the midfield led the way, and that was a cracker of a goal for Mikaylee, who only recently moved up from defence to midfield.”

Canvin was non-committal, though, on his side’s prospects: “We are just going to keep turning up the next few weeks, and see where we end up.”

For Fernhill coach Josh Sebben, “We did not turn up to play yesterday.’

His side never recovered from two early misses while Balgownie only had nine players on the pitch. 2-0 down at halftime, Emilia Skopal’s fifth of the season gave the Foxes hope, but more missed opportunities proved costly when Air scored her goal to seal the win for the Rangers.

Russell Vale 1-0 Kiama Quarriers

Russell Vale reversed two earlier results between these two sides with a shock win over Kiama on Sunday.

Jasmin Pearce scored the only goal of the game, just around the hour mark. She is now the Vale’s top scorer this season.

This was Russell Vale’s first victory for six weeks, but they’ve been a difficult team to predict having put a cat among the pigeons twice now, with the 5-3 win over University earlier in the season and now this single goal victory over Finals-chasing Kiama.

In last Wednesday’s catch up from Round 14, Russell Vale went down 4-0 at home to University, and the fixture list has them down to take on the Unicorns again next week in the penultimate round of the regular season.

For the Quarriers, the pressure is on now. Before this result, Kiama had destiny in their own hands, but three defeats in the last four is not the kind of form that will take the Quarriers over the line.

Kiama coach Umberto Sorrentino knows his side need to regroup before taking on Thirroul next week: “We were pushing the limits both physically and mentally, and something had to give.”

A win next week would settle Quarrier nerves, and with Balgownie’s game in hand a catch up against Albion Park, Kiama might just be favourites still to make the Finals.

University 4-1 Thirroul

The Unicorns followed up their midweek 4-0 win at Russell Vale with a 4-1 victory over basement side Thirroul. The six points gained mean that the pressure is off Brod Crighton’s outfit for the last two fixtures, as they are guaranteed to end in second spot on the ladder.

For the second week in a row, the Thunderbirds let an early lead slip. Zoe Grew’s fourth goal of the season capped off a confident start by Thirroul, but the University eleven soon got back into it, with goals from Georgina Mcdonnell (a brace), Kristen Gorgieski and Rianna Lee, with her first of the campaign. With Gorgieski also scoring in the midweek catch-up, that took the league’s leading scorer’s tally to 20 goals for the season.

For Thirroul coach Tina Siskoska, “We started confident and looking good, but a few misjudgments let Uni back into it, and they capitalised. The girls fought hard, though, and played well on a very warm day when we had no subs available.”


Woonona 0-4 Albion Park

Woonona have gone three games without a win, in a poor run of results that means Finals football is not yet guaranteed. Up against Champions-elect Albion Park is never going to be an easy outing, but Woonona have failed to score in any of their three encounters this season.

The first half was tight, as Albion Park adjusted back into the day-to-day business of The Builders Club Division 1. As coach Richard Davis said, “The girls have worked so hard to be State Cup champions three years in a row, it took time to get back to where we were before last weekend, and Woonona gave us a hard time in the first half.”

Brittany Ring gave Albion Park a single goal advantage at the break, but by the end of the 90, she had notched another hat-trick (taking her season’s tally to ten, though she scored almost as many in the Park cup run in recent weeks, too). Kristina Glisic picked up the other goal in the second half.