Southern backs up fine season
REALITY may have finally caught up — but that new reality is not such a bad thing.
Southern United entered the national women’s league on the back of a dream 12 months.
The team had plenty of buzz as it dispatched Central 61 in its opening game — six days after half its players won the Kate Sheppard Cup final as part of Dunedin Technical.
It battled to a goalless draw against Northern a week later.
But that magic dust was wearing off and — as was inevitable — the crash eventually came.
Sickness swept through the side and it was left clinging to a 11 scoreline, before a lastminute goal handed Southern a loss to Auckland at Tahuna Park.
That signalled the start of a tough period.
It responded by beating WaiBOP, but succumbed to a series of close losses in the following weeks.
That slump was broken late in the season, as Southern strung together three wins to close its programme.
That is probably a good indicator of where the team is at.
Five wins, a draw and six competitive losses is not a bad return for a side that struggled to compete at all until last year.
Southern has opened a clear gap ahead of the bottom teams — WaiBOP and Central.
It is probably still a small margin behind the top teams, on the whole, although capable of beating any of them on its day.
The team has established genuine respect from around the country.
Last year’s thirdplace performance was exceptional, but anyone can string together a few good games.
Backing up a top season is more of a challenge and this year Southern showed it has not returned to being a pushover.
That was particularly impressive given its player losses.
They included league most valuable player Ellie Isaac, Football Fern Elise MamanuGray and former national squad member Tessa Nicol.
They were arguably the side’s three best players last year and replacing stars — particularly in key positions — is never easy.
But the remaining players stepped up and picking a most valuable player would be difficult. Indeed 13 different players got on the scoresheet in just 12 games.
Georgia Brown was a classy pickup and Jordan Woodward pulled off some impressive saves in her first season in goal.
There were plenty of threats right through the pitch — Emily Morison, Shontelle Smith, Lara Wall and Renee Bacon just to name a few.
A solid defence was anchored by Kelsey Kennard and captain Mikaela Hunt, who barely put a foot wrong all season.
The quality of the football has continued to rise and the majority of games are exciting as teams bring positive mindsets.
The Northern Lights host Canterbury United in the league final on Sunday.