Penalties propel Whanganui to win at Massey
The draws of the first round of Women’s Federation League continue to be converted into victories during the second, as Team Ritesh Football Whanganui are now on a dynamic three-game winning streak after besting Massey University 3-2 in Palmerston North on Thursday night.
Building momentum after last Sunday’s tight 2-1 home win over Taradale AFC, the away game was rescheduled from tomorrow afternoon at the late request of Whanganui coach Matt Calvert and assistant Scott Burney, due to them being on the road for GJ Gardner Homes Wanganui Athletic’s match-up with the New Plymouth Rangers.
In a correction from Tuesday’s article, Massey do not have their Federation Cup semifinal with Taradale until a Friday afternoon late next month.
“Massey hosted us under floodlights and did a fantastic job,” said Calvert of the game at the varsity grounds.
In changes from the weekend, neither goal scorer Dana McClelland or Eva Thompson were available due to illness, while Candice Armstrong was also working through an injury as Calvert took a squad of 13 to the university grounds, re-arranging the wings while putting Amy Haughian up front to partner Golden Boot leader Vanya Apiata Hodgkinson.
Early evening traffic prevented the squad from getting to the field until only 20 minutes before kickoff, and Massey, who were coming off a strong effort in their 1-0 loss to unbeaten Hokowhitu, immediately wanted to up the tempo.
“The first 25 minutes was the quickest we’ve played this year. We did well to get in [the game] as quickly as we could,” said Calvert.
Having absorbed the early storm, Whanganui went on the attack with a plan to isolate Massey’s centre halves, in a lesson learned from their tough 2-0 loss in the Federation Cup quarterfinal on June 2.
It led to a penalty box opportunity for Hodgkinson, and when the keeper came off her line too early, the Whanganui striker was allowed a second attempt and made no mistake to give Whanganui the lead by halftime.
Massey replied in the 57th minute, but by then Whanganui had brought on impact player Alice Ireton, changing her surname back from Hetherington, who scored what Calvert called “the goal of the season”.
Getting the ball on the right, Ireton beat two defenders and then on her non-dominant left foot, bent her shot into the left-hand corner for an absolute stunner.
“It really was just a take a bow moment,” said Calvert.
The coach was disappointed the team then gave away a turnover at the back, their only really significant error of the match, to let Massey equalise again, but to their credit the visitors “just got back on with it”.
Another penalty in the 77th minute set up Hodgkinson for her second chance, and again she delivered to land her 11th goal out of the 23 scored by Whanganui this season.
“It was a massive kick-on from Sunday,” Calvert said.
“Every time we scored, we picked up the ball out of the net and sprinted back for the restart – that mentality.
“We were the calmer of the two teams.”
While Calvert said his only regret is Ireton’s amazing goal was not seen by the home supporters at Wembley, the 90 minutes were a personal redemption story for centre back Lisa Walker.
Working with a new-look lineup of defenders, including a standout Lilee Taylor, Walker shook off the struggles of the Taradale match to turn in a committed performance, giving her inform goalie Megan O’Connor more support.
“You cannot overstate how brilliant she was,” said Calvert.
Ashley Cowley was back to full running after her injury on Sunday, while Stella Warner and Aimee Ashworth, in her first start, also did well.
Whanganui moved their League record to an impressive 4-4-1, and can now have a rest for the weekend before hitting training to get ready for the big match of the round against the unbeaten Hokowhitu (7-1-0) at Wembley on June 30.