United happy to take a gritty win
GOLD Coast United continued their undefeated season with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Logan on Saturday, maintaining top spot on the Football Queensland National Premier Leagues Women’s ladder.
With five wins and a draw from their six outings in 2020, United’s experienced players stood tall in a solid team performance.
Centre-back Ellie Fryer opened the scoring for the home side on 21 minutes when she climbed highest in the box to head home a Rie Kitano corner.
Logan came out in the second half with all guns blazing.
Former Gold Coast United striker Meg McElligott squared things up early but United responded shortly after through Eash Norrie.
Some dogged defending from United, including a goalline clearance from Fryer late on, saw United clinch a crucial three points against a formidable Logan line-up that included six current or former W-League players.
United coach Alex Bundalo praised his players for a committed team performance and conceded that “you don’t always win pretty”
“Sometimes you just have to grind things out, work hard, stay focused and we did exactly that today,” Bundalo said.
Meanwhile, the Gold Coast Knights have returned to winning ways with a 1-0 victory over Brisbane City at Corporate Travel Management Stadium
on Saturday night, with Jheison Macauce’s second-half strike proving to be the difference.
“We’ll take the 1-0 of course, but I thought our performance was significantly better than the previous week,” coach Grae Piddick said.
On Sunday afternoon at Coplicks, a Shane Smeltz double put Gold Coast United 2-1 up before a red card changed the momentum of the game and the Brisbane Roar ran out 3-2 winners.