The Girls Conference League teams headed to Bathurst last weekend to compete in the annual Proctor Cup Challenge. It is a great tournament where the girls face opposition from country and metro regions. It was a mixed bag of results however there were plenty of positives to take from the tournament as the girls look to defend their League Championships this year.

The 14 Girls started the tournament with a 6-0 thumping of Wagga City Wanderers. Our girls dominated possession from the outset and early goals to Chloe and Demi allowed the girls to settle into the game. Despite the Wanderers working their way into the game, our girls were proving difficult to break down and the 3-0 half time lead was doubled giving the girls a solid start to the tournament. 

Game 2 against the Canberra United Academy was a hard-fought game with two very evenly matched squads playing very similar styles. The first half saw FSC combining well in the front third early on with the Canberra United goalkeeper making three good saves. The FSC front three were causing havoc for the Canberra defence but the final product was missing. Canberra were forced to play long ball options which saw the FSC defence caught out on a few occasions but were ultimately well defended. Half time, 0-0.

Second half started with Canberra United on the attack and FSC being forced back into their own half and playing on the counter attack. A well worked move on the right flank saw Caley Tallon-Henniker rattle the cross bar from a tight angle, but scores remained level. With six minutes to go in the game, a miss-hit shot found an unmarked Canberra United striker who placed the ball in the net. A 1 nil loss for FSC but plenty of positives to take from the game.

Game 3 saw a high tempo game against Bankstwon City that begun with FSC breaking through the Bankstown defence with balls played through the backline to the pacey wingers of FSC. Bankstown then fought their way back into the game physically and rattled FSC with a 6^th minute goal from a goalmouth scramble. FSC responded four minutes later with a great finish from Demi Gay from a counter attacking move. The remainder of the half was even and teams went into half time 1 – 1.

Second half, FSC started slowly and Bankstown gained the upper hand in possession and forced some excellent saves from Charlotte in the FSC goal. As the half progressed, FSC had their own period of possession, attacking in wide areas, hitting the cross bar twice in three minutes. With four minutes to go in the half, a questionable refereeing decision saw Bankstown awarded a penalty which was coolly converted. FSC did not give up and with one minute to go forced a point blank stop from the Bankstown goal keeper. The game ended with a 2 – 1 loss and ultimately meaning FSC could not progress to the semi-finals.

FSC started their final group game against Western NSW Mariners keeping possession and switching play at will. Most of the attacks going through the FSC midfield and wingers. An excellent piece of combination play from Demi and Caley saw Demi calmly volley the ball into an open net to make it 1 nil after five minutes. Two minutes later, Holly Penning won the ball of the Mariners fullback, cut inside onto her right foot and finished in the bottom corner to make it two nil. FSC kept the pressure on with Mariners not able to get out of their own half. Minutes later a cross from Caley found Chloe Aivialiotis open in the 6-yard box who then chested the ball into the goal for a three nil lead going into half time.

The second half started much the same as the first with the wingers of FSC going passed the Mariners defence at will, only some excellent goalkeeping and tired finishing keeping the score at 3 nil. An excellent through ball from CB Bethany Horton found Caley Talon-Henniker in open space who expertly finished the ball into the far corner to take the game out of reach of Mariners. Five minutes before the end of the game, a bouncing ball found a Mariners player 25 yards out who hit a half volley which found the top corner and gave the Mariners fans something to cheer about. FSC then kept possession and played the game out to finish the tournament on a high winning 4-1.

The 15 Girls finished the tournament with two wins, a draw and a loss. In their opening game, a footballing lesson was given to the NPL2's Marconi Stallions and 2018 Proctor Park Challenge Champions. The FSC girls were well organised in their defensive structures and did not let the opposition leave their own half for the majority of the match. Winning the ball high up the field and some clinical finishing resulted in the girls scoring 3 goals quickly. The game finished 3-1.

In their second game of the day, we took on Wagga City Wanderers and the game plan was executed with great success. Through some creative combination play and desire to get forward, the girls scored 4 times in the first half of the match. The half time talk was to set up a defensive block and manage the game to conserve energy. The players met the challenge and the game finished 4-1 winners.

The girls went up against Belconnon United in their third match and it was a stale mate. The game finished 0-0. With he FSC girls heading into their 3rd fixture of the day in scorching heat, they were always going to prove a big challenge to them. Belconnen were a very physical team who appeared to resort to some questionable tactics. Credit to the girls for continuing to try and play technical football throughout the match in spite of the treatment they were being given.

In the final group match, it was win or bust as we come up against another NPL2 team, St George who were always going to be a tough team to play against. The opposition set up a well organised deep defensive block from the beginning to the end of the match. They caught our girls with a long ball which was essentially against the run of play. Despite huffing and puffing, we unfortunately couldn't find the net with the multiple chances we created. The game finished in a 1-0 loss thus ending their tournament.

The 17 Girls went into the tournament with a depleted side due to early preseason injuries and unavailabilities and the going was always going to be tough with the team effectively playing with just one substitute.

In the opening game for the girls they went down 0-2 to NPL2 opposition Marconi. The girls showed plenty of potential against the opposition however we came up short in a match the opposition deserved to win. 

We backed up against Woden West in game 2 and walked away with a 2-1 win. It was very good bounce back. The girls were organised and probably did enough to deserve the points despite a late comeback from Woden West.

Third game of the day and depleted numbers, heat and strong opposition all contributed to a 2-1 loss to St George.  The girls visibly struggled physically but they showed lots of will to keep working and get a goal, in true Flame spirit. It was not enough as the Saints edged us out.

We tackled Woden West again the following day and it was a real struggle for the girls who were really struggling with not only the heat, but also fatigue. They did not give up however Woden got some revenge b eating the girls 1-0.

With a number of players returning from injury over the next couple of weeks, we look forward to an uninterrupted preparation leading into the first game of the season.

Great effort all teams.