Reds need to put score on board

Matthew Galea

July 12 2014

Shepparton News

Thirteen points separate Shepparton South and Shepparton on the Goulburn North East Football Association Open Women’s table, but in reality the gap is much smaller.

Both sides have conceded 11 goals this season, but the difference between the two sides is perhaps better explained in the goals scored column of the table.

League leader Shepparton South has scored 13 goals more than the Reds, and Shepparton coach Uwe Paffrath believes a failure to convert opportunities has been costing his side all season.

‘‘We’ve had a bit of bad luck, but we’ve been making the chances,’’ Paffrath said.

‘‘I’d be more concerned if we weren’t creating chances.

‘‘We get in front of goals and on many occasions we’ve chosen the wrong option, be that due to the strength of the opposition defence or us trying to rush getting to the ball, and we haven’t capitalised.’’

Alicia Rowan, Jessie Barassi and Danielle Dimit have done the majority of the work up front, scoring all but one of the team’s goals this season, and will once again be tasked with finding the back of the net against Ralph Giuliani’s side.

The Southerners have developed a knack of coming from behind to snatch points this season and Giuliani has seen enough of the Reds this season to know tomorrow’s game won’t be easy.

‘‘We had a real hard game against them last time and I’m expecting a similar game this time,’’ Giuliani said.

‘‘Their speed really troubled us last time, but I think our midfield stood up at the end and maybe we were a tad lucky, too.

‘‘We’re not a high scoring side, but we seem to be finding the back of the net, so if we keep doing what we’ve been doing, we should get a good result.’’

Grace Zito will return to bolster the Southerners’ defence as Giuliani looks to extend his team’s unbeaten run to nine games.

‘‘Everyone seems to be fit and well at this stage and we’ll have an extra player on the bench to rotate with,’’ Giuliani said.

‘‘Logic says you’re not going to go through the season undefeated, so we’re due a loss, but we hope it doesn’t come this week.’’