Women’s League regular season draws to a close
THE final round of fixtures of the regular season of the Puma Women’s League took place last weekend.
Three of the games took place on Sunday, with two of them effectively having nothing on the line as half of the league’s eight teams were already mathematically assured of their final position in the table before the games kicked off.
League leaders Desly Mağusa were among them, and bounced back from midweek defeat in the Ayten Berkalp Women’s Cyprus Cup semi-finals — their first of the season — to beat Miracle Değirmenlik away from home and extend their winning run in the league to seven matches.
China Bazaar Gençlik Gücü, who inflicted Desly Mağusa’s first defeat the previous Wednesday, completed
their regular season fixtures with victory away at Merit Alsancak Yeşilova on Sunday, extending their winning run to seven on the bounce in all competitions. Yonpaş Dumlupınar and Küçük Kaymaklı went into their fixture on Sunday level on points, knowing that whichever side won would secure third place in the league table. It was Küçük Kaymaklı that took the victory, lifting themselves above their opponents in the league table. Yonpaş Dumlupınar, depleted by injury and suspension, have now lost three games in a row, and will
need to regroup ahead of the upcoming play-offs.
Saturday’s only game saw the league’s two winless sides, Vadili and Hamitköy, face each other in a final chance of getting some points on the board.
Vadili took that opportunity and tasted victory for the first time this season,
leaving Hamitköy alone and adrift at the bottom of the table.
Despite her side’s lack of points, Hamitköy manager Tutku Pamit expressed her pride at having completed the first season of the Puma Women’s League and having played her part in beginning to establish
the women’s game in North Cyprus. Ms Pamit spoke of how this year is the first in which there has been a women’s football team in Hamitköy, and that she believes that the game will improve and develop over time. She spoke of how the league is improving day by day, and said that they can feel progress being made within her own club. With the regular league season having drawn to a close, attention first turned to the Ayten Berkalp Women’s Cyprus Cup final, which took place last night after Cyprus Today went to print between Lefkoşa rivals China Bazaar Gençlik Gücü and Küçük Kaymaklı at the July 20 Stadium in Girne.
Following on from that, the league play-off semi finals will take place next weekend, with two local derbies set to decide who will meet in the final.
Desly Mağusa and Yonpaş Dumlupınar will meet in a Gazimağusa derby, while the capital’s two remaining sides, China Bazaar Gençlik Gücü and Küçük Kaymaklı, will once again go toe to toe.