Galaxy’s holding onto hope

GALAXY United coach Kat Smith says her side has a mountain to climb in its hunt for WNPL finals this season.

The Torquay-based club slumped to a 4-1 loss to powerhouse South Melbourne on Saturday, putting it well out of the top four with three rounds remaining.

Galaxy can still mathematically make it into the finals, but would need to win all of its remaining games and hope fourth-placed Alamein loses all of its.

“The chances are that there is still a chance. What has hurt is our recent draws with Heidelberg and Box Hill (rather than Saturday’s loss),” Smith said.

“We are still looking to catch Alamein, who play two out of the top three and have a catch up game against Box Hill as well.

“Football is a funny game, it’s unpredictable and there is still a mathematical chance. The slip ups have occurred and again the mountain gets a little bit steeper and this business end of the season we have to keep pushing.”

South Melbourne made Galaxy pay at Banyul Warri Fields on Saturday, putting it to the slaughter for its mistakes.

Alex Gummer opened the scoring for South Melbourne in the 38th minute after latching onto a corner kick and sticking the ball in the back of the net.

But the lead wouldn’t last long with Galaxy’s Lujeyn AlHuneidi smashing home a scorching free kick just minutes later. Galaxy would then shoot itself in the foot, giving away a penalty two minutes after Al-Huneidi’s goal.

Melina Ayres slotted from the spot and then gave South a 3-1 lead another two minutes later.

Needing goals in the second half to get three points, Galaxy went on the attack and South Melbourne made them pay for it with Sarah Richardson scoring her team’s fourth in the 87th minute.

“We didn’t do ourselves any favours, conceding off a corner. That’s on our watch, it’s a set piece where we didn’t fulfil our roles,” Smith said. “The positive was we responded well with our own set piece. But again — a trend we saw continue from last week — we have conceded straight after we have levelled.”