Bittersweet end to improved season for Southern

Tessa Nicol
Tessa Nicol
The fairy tale ended a week early but the Southern United women are holding their heads high.

A 3-1 loss in yesterday’s national women’s football league pre-final, away against Auckland, made for a bittersweet finish to an historic season.

Playing in its first  playoff match, the side was competitive, but two first-half goals from Auckland proved too much to overcome.

A 28th minute screamer from Grace Jale gave the hosts the lead, as she drove one in off the post from 25m out.

That came after a period of pressure from Auckland, which had the better of the opening stages and kept Southern goalkeeper Tessa Nicol busy.

A defensive error from Southern allowed Auckland to add a second, Hannah Blake finding the net in the 34th minute.

Southern took a more direct approach in the second half and was soon rewarded as Renee Bacon headed in a corner off the posts.

However, while it dominated the majority of the half, it was unable to find the goal again.

Auckland, meanwhile, made the most of a chance in the 80th minute as Jacqui Hand finished off a Tayla O’Brien cross to make it 3-1.

Coach Terry Parle said the side was disappointed with the loss, although it was proud of what it had achieved.Having won just one game in the past decade, the team’s goal heading into the season had been to win a game.

It achieved that — against Auckland — in its first game and went on to claim the big scalps of Canterbury United and Northern.

However,  its inability to perform against the bottom teams  was costly, something Parle said the team would learn from.

Had it won those games it would have finished top of the table and advanced directly to next week’s final.

Despite that Parle said the team could hold its head high, having put on a valiant display against a strong Auckland team.

"I can’t fault the girls’ effort, I can’t fault their attitude," he said.

"An error at the wrong time let us down, but that’s football and we move on.

"I said to them, while we’re disappointed, don’t be despondent.

"Each and every one of them we’re proud of and we all must hold our heads up and look everyone in their face and say we’ve had a bloody good season."

Auckland will now travel to Christchurch to play Canterbury United in next week’s final.

 

National women’s league
The scores

Auckland                     3

Grace Jale 28’, Hannah Blake 34’, Jacqui Hand 80’

Southern United         1

Renee Bacon 50’.

Halftime: 2-0 Auckland

Add a Comment