Barnett double sinks Central women
A former Central striker came back to haunt them in the opening game of the national women’s football league, as they were beaten 5-1 by Northern.
Manawatu¯ ’s Jane Barnett, who is now based in Auckland with the New Zealand squad, scored twice in Northern’s win over her former team on a windy day at Albany on Sunday.
Central were going into a strong wind in the first half, which made life hard and they conceded three goals in the first spell.
Two of the first-half goals came from Barnett, and they were almost a carbon copy of each other, where she was given too much space at the top the box and she volleyed the ball home.
Central scored first in the second half when Meisha Boone netted in the 72nd minute, but when Central tried to counter attack, Northern would pick them off and shut them down.
Sammi Tawharu grabbed a late double for Northern to seal the big win.
Central coach Simon Lees said they had a few chances in the second half and one in the first half that was a shot directly to the keeper.
If they had scored that it would have put them up 1-0 and things could have been different, Lees said.
‘‘Really disappointing.’’ There were periods of the second spell were Central were on top, but Northern managed to hold them out.
Sarah Morton had a great game defensively, starting at centre back and then shifting out wide, while central defender Amber Phillips and Boone played well, and Hannah Robert was good off the bench.
Central will be targeting their next game, back at home in Palmerston North against Southern next Sunday. But it won’t be easy as Southern upset Auckland 3-2 in Dunedin on Sunday.