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Ashburton Climbs to Second on WPL Ladder |
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Written by Admin
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WPL Round 10 - Ashburton v Heidleberg United
 Ashburton secured second place on the WPL Ladder on Sunday after a satisfying win against Heidelberg United at Ashburton Park. The win sees Ashburton 4 points behind leaders Box Hill and 2 points in front of Sandringham. The match started in controversy when the Bergers turned up in a yellow strip which was extremely similar in colour to the Ashy strip. With the Heidelberg away strip nowhere to be seen, the referee announced that the Bergers would play in red bibs. This decision was deplorable and certainly did nothing to preserve the integrity and standard of the Women's Premier League competition.
The game turned out to be a spirited affair as expected , with ex-Ashburton pair, Megan Archer and Sarah Groenewald starting for the Bergers. The first half was tight with a goal each before Heidelberg gained the ascendancy just after half time, courtesy of a Angie Rassias tap in following a great save by Ashy goalie Steph Brewer who hurt herself in the process. Following the goal, Rassias was issued a red card for what looked like back chat to the referee. Despite being a goal down Ashy was always going to be a chance to equalise as Kristen Stensholt, Cindy Dussoye and Seyma Erenli were having massive games in the middle of the park.
The second half saw a very defensive Heidelberg try to hold onto their lead. The tactic of playing long "bombs" into the forward line at times looked like paying off despite playing with 10 players, however a very solid Ashy backline held them out with Linette Lavadure, Letizia Sammut and Stacy Louras holding firm.
At around the 75 minute mark a startling change came over the game. The Ashy girls stepped up the tempo and almost immediately leveled the score courtesy of a massive strike by Annabelle Gibney past a stationary Heidelberg goalie. For the remainder of the game it was all Ashy and it did not take long before the winning goal was drilled through by Christine Pfeiffer from 10 metres out following a great cross by Annabelle Gibney from the left. In summary, this was a great effort by the Ashburton team who were really "up" for this clash and gave 110% to prove a point.
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