The scene was set for an intriguing Women’s Division 1 clash between Kiama and Woonona, both searching for their first win of the season. However, despite decent chances falling at the feet of both teams, goals remained elusive throughout and the match remained scoreless.

The first golden opportunity of the match fell to Woonona’s Elyse McNally in the 5^th minute, who received the ball in the middle of the 18-yard box. One on one with the keeper, she squandered an early chance to put the Sharks into the lead, blazing the ball over the bar.

In the 28^th minute, McNally had a chance to redeem herself but once again failed to find the back of the net when she hit the post from the within the 6-yard box. The ball rebounded to the feet of Shannon Peters in front of an open goal. Under pressure though, she placed it wide, as Kiama counted their lucky stars heading into the break.

Kiama had to wait until the 58^th minute to have their first good chance of the match as Natalie Henderson went on a run down the left wing. Reaching the edge of the area she cut the ball back onto her right foot and struck the ball towards the top left corner but was denied by an outstretched Samantha Clark.

As both teams fatigued the match became an end to end affair but both defences were staunch enough to stop any lethal chances from developing. However, in the 85^th minute, a lapse of concentration from the Kiama defence allowed Jasmin Pearce to drive towards the 6-yard box where she went to unleash a shot. Despite Pearce slightly misconnecting, Megan Blanch still had a lot to do and pulled off a stellar save to keep the Quarriers in the match.

With seconds to go Kiama won a corner and looked to have one final push to take three points but against the will of the home crowd the referee blew the final whistle before the corner could be taken, signalling a somewhat anti-climactic finish to an entertaining contest.

After the match, Woonona's coach, Michael Sutton, lauded the performance of his players but was disappointed with the missed chances.

“Considering we only played with 11 players I thought we did an excellent job.”

“We had probably 7 occasions where we should have put the ball in the back of the net, unfortunately, today the ball wouldn’t drop for us.”

The quest for a first win continues next week for both sides when Kiama takes on Thirroul away, while Woonona head to Judy Masters to play Balgownie.  

28^th April 2019 @ Kiama Sporting Complex

Kiama – 0

Woonona – 0

Kiama – Megan BLANCH, Chelsea CHATFIELD, Emma-Kate DEWHURST, Tamara DUCKITT, Kari GONZALEZ, Natalie HENDERSON, Kristina JANESKA, Brooke PERKISS, Alex STRONACH, Rebecca WELSH, Louisa WOOD, Allira GILES-GREGORY

Woonona – Samantha CLARK, Kayla DRAPER, Sara HAMILTON, Ainsley HAWES, Le-Tisha KABLE, Fiona LEAFE, Elyse MCNALLY, Jasmin PEARCE, Morgan POTTER, Jordan WHEATLEY, Shannon PETERS

Report by Nic Wilson, on twitter @_nicwilson