Report by Alyce Collett, EXCLUSIVE photographty from Adrian Geremia (8/11/24)
Above: Aimee Medwin (5) sails high to head the ball in attack. Photo Adrian Geremia for Impetus
Western United 0-0 Central Coast Mariners
Western United and the Central Coast Mariners have played out an entertaining goalless draw to kick off the second round of the A-League Women season.
In stark contrast to the goal fest at the same venue a week prior, the match was still very entertaining despite the lack of goals on the scoreboard.
The first half saw Western United have slightly more of the ball, but at 53 to 47% it was not a huge advantage.
For much of the half, neither side really looked like scoring, with Alyssa Dall’oste and Sarah Langman rarely challenged. Central Coast had the only shot that really troubled a keeper, but a well positioned Western United defence saw the home side able to clear it off the line.
Both sides did have their chances though, with Western United recording 11 shots in the first half (with five of them on target) compared to the Mariners three shots (with one being on target).
For Western United, Catherine Zimmerman and later Aimee Medwin were getting space out wide and looking really dangerous, but the passes and the finishing from United’s midfielders did not set their team mates up for success.
Meanwhile for Central Coast, Jade Pennock and Taylor Ray centrally and Brooke Nunn and later Peta Trimis out wide certainly generated plenty of attacking momentum for their side, but Western United’s defenders were able to position themselves really well and halt that momentum around the top of the box.
The second half was just as entertaining as the first, but did not produce any more goals than the first half did.
Both sides continued to have enough opportunities in the second half, but faced very different problems when trying to shoot on goal.
For the home side, despite how industrious Kahli Johnson and Chloe Logarzo were, they faced a very congested box with too many bodies from both sides in the way of the United strikers getting a goal. For the Mariners, they had plenty of space and caught the United defenders off guard on a number of occasions, but were thwarted by heavy touches and inaccurate shots on goal.
Western United were the ones who got closest to breaking the deadlock, not only by recording significantly more shots than the Mariners but by those shots getting closer to hitting the back of the net than any of the Mariners’ shots did. Western United had seven shots to three for the half, with two of them on target compared to the Mariners’ zero.
Check out our Instagram feed – @ImpetusFootball – for more of Adrian Geremia’s exclusive photos for us from the game.
Teams: WESTERN UNITED (4-4-2): Dall’oste, Grove, Cerne, Maher, M.Taranto, Dehakiz, Hieda, Logarzo, Medwin, Johnson, Zimmerman. Substitutes: Lincoln, Roach, Eggesvik, Ibarguen, Sardo.
CENTRAL COAST MARINERS (5-3-2): Langman, Irwin, Nash, Martin, Gome, Pennock, Galic, Ray, Puxty, Nunn, Trimis. Substitutes: Morrissey, Rasmussen, Quilligan, McMahon, Evans.
Attendance: 617.
Referee: Mikayla Ryan.
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