Herald Women’s Premier League Round 7 Preview

Story and photo courtesy of Northern NSW Football

Match of the Round
Wallsend v South Wallsend
Sunday 22nd April, 2:30 pm
Walker Fields 

Last start: Wallsend lost 4-2 to Warners Bay, South Wallsend beat Adamstown 3-1

Position on ladder: Wallsend 4th, 7 points; South Wallsend 5th, 6 points

Squad news

Both sides are expected to be at full strength with the possibility of a few changes to South Wallsend.

What the coaches say

Wallsend coach Marc Hingston says his side is feeling fresh after the bye last weekend.

“With three games in a week, I wanted to freshen them up to finish round one on a high,” Hingston said.

“They have played some really good football in the first round and their work ethic at training has been outstanding.

“This week is an opportunity to reward themselves by consolidating a spot in the top 3 or 4.”

South Wallsend coach Kevin Farley says his side is looking forward to the challenge and expects it to be a close game.

Bottom line

It’s shaping up to be a strong contest with both sides competing for a spot in the top four. Wallsend has had a mixed bag of results but has shown they are capable of competing with the best. The Devils having the bye last weekend is a huge advantage and will certainly benefit them heading into the match. The fleet-footed trio of Laura Hall, Sass Seaborn and Libby Copus-Brown are dangerous in attack and if South Wallsend want to keep their winning streak alive, they will need to be at their very best. South Wallsend will be out to assert their dominance and if they are at full strength, they are well on their way to grabbing their third straight win. Both teams are continually improving which paves the way for an exciting match.

NEWFM Northern League One Round 5 Review

Story courtesy of Northern NSW Football

Wallsend FC 2 (Ty Goldsmith x2) drew Singleton Strikers 2 (Jordan Phelan, Tom Hume)
Sunday 15th April, 2:30 pm, The Gardens 

For the first time this year, Wallsend would finally get the chance to play at their home ground, The Gardens, however, although they continued their undefeated start to the season, they weren’t able to take all three points after an exciting battle with Singleton in a heated game that saw four penalties given just in the first half.

Wallsend was granted a bonus with the mid-week decision that formidable forward Ty Goldsmith was able to escape a second match suspension and play the match, but it was their opposition who started the match on top.

The Strikers pulled off a fantastic upset last weekend against Belswans, and they looked like they would again surprise onlookers with a hot start to the match when Joe Civello was awarded an early penalty kick, however, Jae Dawes regretfully pushed the ball wide of the upright.

No similar mistakes were made by his teammate Jordan Phelan though, who headed in a Jackson Cox free-kick unopposed minutes later, to put the away team into the lead.

Wallsend heightened their pressure though, and it lead to two penalties being given in quick succession to the home side, both of which were successfully knocked in by Goldsmith, taking his season tally to five.

This happened all before the Strikers were incredibly awarded yet another penalty that unfortunately saw disaster strike twice for Dawes, as he was unable to find the back of the net again, this time due to a reaching save from Red Devils’ goalkeeper Joel Magnee.

The second half kicked off with a game-changing moment as Matt Williams was shown a straight red card for elbowing, leaving Wallsend with ten men and from there, Singleton began to increase their intensity with the extra-man advantage.

Their efforts would finally see some fruition as Tom Hume was able to put away a scrambling goal that had already been saved on the goal-line twice to equal the game up.

Despite both teams having chances to win the game late-on, the game finished in a draw.

Wallsend FC coach Ben Edwards admitted his team didn’t play to their potential and that there were some definite areas that they needed to improve on before their next match in two weeks.

“We can definitely be a lot better,” Edwards said.

“We definitely need to work on the midfield and just closing that space more.

“We were a bit on our heels and needed to pick up the energy a bit more.”

Despite the draw though, Edwards confessed he was impressed with his side’s early form and was confident they can continue improving.

“I think we’ve done exceptionally well, especially for a team that was ranked to come near last by some people.

“As a whole, even with the changes and the suspensions, we’ve come through pretty much unscathed, so I’m pretty happy with what we’ve done.”

FFA Cup Round 4 Draw Confirmed

Story courtesy of Northern NSW Football

Northern NSW Football (NNSWF) conducted the Round 4 FFA Cup Draw for both Northern and Southern Conferences today, Monday 16 April.

The Round 4 Northern Conference Regional Qualifiers fixtures will take place on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 May at the C.ex International Stadium, Coffs Harbour.

The weekend’s game will determine the two (2) Regional Clubs to advance to the FFA Cup Round of 32 Qualifying Weekend (NNSWF’s Finals for FFA Cup) at Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility.

The Round 4 Southern Conference fixtures will take place on Tuesday 1st May, Wednesday 2nd May and Thursday 3rd May.

NNSWF will liaise with Clubs who have been allocated to the Home Team for each fixture and schedule matches in due course.

The culmination of NNSWF’s Preliminary Rounds will see the best teams from around the region compete at Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility for two spots in the FFA Cup Round of 32 on Friday 9 to Sunday 11 June.

> Round 4 Southern Conference Draw – 2018 FFA Cup

> Round 4 – Fixture Draw (Northern Conference – Regional Qualifiers) – 2018 FFA Cup

NEWFM Northern League One Round 5 Preview

Story courtesy of Northern NSW Football

Wallsend FC vs. Singleton Strikers
Sunday 15th April, 2:30 pm
The Gardens 

For the first time this season, the Red Devils will finally get the chance to play at their home ground, The Gardens, but their first real home game won’t be an easy one as they come up against an in-form Singleton side who will be fixed on ending Wallsend’s undefeated start to 2018.

To make matters more difficult for the home team, they may also be without top front-man Ty Goldsmith who received a red card and a potential two-match suspension in their Round 4 match against Cessnock City which will take a hit to their offence that has ultimately been their main strength thus far.

Ben Edwards, Wallsend FC coach, said although Goldsmith’s attacking prowess would be missed, he was confident in the players that would be replacing him.

“It’s definitely going to be hard to replace him up top. But I do have the quality there and depth to not make much of a difference.”

“Hopefully we can just go about our business like we have for the first four games.”

Edwards admitted that seeing Singleton beat Belswans was very unexpected and that it’s made he and his side take notice.

“That result surprised me really.”

“They’ve obviously got some good quality there to pull out the result against a top side like Belswans.”

Last season when Wallsend and Singleton competed against one another, both sides achieved a victory and had a drawn overall aggregate of 5-all respectively, highlighting the competitiveness viewers can expect this Sunday.

Herald Women’s Premier League Round 5 Review

Story and photo courtesy of Northern NSW Football

Match of the Round
Warners Bay 4 (Jenna Kingsley 2, Nadja Squires 2) defeated Wallsend 2 (Sass Seaborn, Libby Copus-Brown) at Wallsend Park on Sunday. Half-time: 2-2.

A thrilling match of the round with Warners Bay taking the chocolates in a 4-2 victory over Wallsend at Wallsend Park on Sunday.

Wallsend was first on the scoresheet when Libby Copus-Brown slotted a penalty into the bottom right corner 18 minutes in, narrowly missed by Bay keeper Maddi Latter.

The Devil’s wouldn’t keep the lead for long with a long-range free-kick thunderbolt from Nadja Squires finding the back of the net just ten minutes later.

The to and fro continued with Wallsend scoring a few minutes later when a Danielle Nicol free kick from out wide found Sass Seaborn in the box who turned and slotted the ball into the bottom left corner.

Cassidy Davis and Jenna Kingsley were able to combine as usual. A through ball from Davis found Kingsley who drew Danielle Redding off her line, put the visitor’s back in the game just before halftime.

Sian Keating is certainly pushing for a starting spot in first grade after another strong performance for Warner’s Bay in the backline. Throughout the match, Corinne Krupa was constantly in the mix in both attack and defence, in potentially her best game of the season, along with goalkeeper Maddi Latter.

On the opposing side, Sass Seaborn performed to her usual high standard and constantly threatened the Bay’s defensive line. Alice Munro and young Ellie Hall were clinical across the park with Danielle Redding making some excellent saves for Wallsend.

 HUNTER SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY

In the second half, Kingsley and Squires both grabbed their second goal of the match, handing the Bay a 4-2 victory.

Warner’s Bay player-coach Cassidy Davis thought their intensity increased in the second half.

“I think we were really flat and our attack was poor in the first half,” Davis said.

“At halftime, we spoke about urgency and the quality of our passes which I think really improved in the second half.

“We will be working on our communication and being quick on the ball in preparation for Merewether next week.”

Wallsend coach Marc Hingston praised his side for their effort after a tough 3 games in 7 days.

“To stick with a team that has 3 W-League players, I was really proud of the girls today,” Hingston said.

“We dominated the first half and their goals came at the back of our mistakes and Warners bay are a team that will capitalise on that.

“We really focused on making no mistakes in the middle because Tara, Jenna and Cass will counter-attack and we spoke about who was marking those players and making sure they didn’t have any space to play in.”

Herald Women’s Premier League Round 5 Preview

Story courtesy of Northern NSW Football

Match of the Round
Wallsend v Warners Bay
Sunday 8th April, 2:30 pm
Wallsend Park

Last start: Warners Bay beat Thornton 7-1, Wallsend beat Adamstown 3-1

Position on ladder: Warners Bay 1st, 10 points; Wallsend 4th, 4 points

Squad news

At this stage, both squads should be at full strength with a couple of potential changes to be made to Warners Bay depending on injuries. 

What the coaches say

Warners Bay player-coach Cassidy Davis will be hoping to build on last weekend’s strong performance and keep the momentum flowing.

“After a good win last week, we want to continue scoring goals,” Davis said.

“We need to keep the same energy and work ethic that we have had in the last few games for longer periods.

“We know Wallsend are going to come out firing after a good win last week so we are expecting a very tough physical battle.”

Wallsend coach March Hingston is hoping his side will show the same amount of enthusiasm they did last weekend.

“We should be at full strength this week and we are looking to build on momentum after a really good performance last Sunday,” Hingston said.

Bottom line

Warner’s Bay may be the competition’s heavyweights but they can expect a physical game against a strong Wallsend outfit. The Bay has scored 24 points in the opening four rounds but the Devil’s 3-2 win over Thornton last night will give them momentum heading into the match. Wallsend is very vocal and the dynamic trio of Sass Seaborn, Libby Copus-Brown and Laura Hall will be up against Jenna Kingsley, Sophie Stapleford and Cassidy Davis. The match will be won in attack and a close scoreline is predicted.

NEWFM Northern League One Round 4 Preview

Story courtesy of Northern NSW Football

Cessnock City Hornets vs. Wallsend FC
Saturday 7th March, 2:30 pm
Turner Park 

This week’s match-up between Cessnock City and Wallsend has all the makings of a great, exciting clash.

Both teams sit on the exact same points, have shown impressively strong starts to their 2018 campaigns and with emotions and ambitions buzzing around the clubs due to their sensational form, neither team will want that to come to an abrupt end.

On one side of the field, the Hornets pose one of the best defensive records, only conceding one goal, and have looked very well organised at the back with the likes of Greg Anderson and Josh Dwyer.

While on the other side, the Red Devils have flourished offensively and pose the best goalscoring record, eight goals in just three games, due to the efforts of Ty Goldsmith, Matt Williams and Sam Bradshaw.

Ben Edwards, coach of Wallsend, suggested that if his offence can continue striving as they have done in the first three games, then they will be hard to stop this weekend and although their defence has been rather weak, he’s confident it will sort itself out.

“We played them [Cessnock] in the Heritage Cup…and I’m expecting a lot more goals than there were in that game.”

“I am confident they [the attack] can score against any team in this league.”

“Our defence is a work in progress.”

“It’s a fairly new backline working together but hopefully in the next couple of weeks they can get it together and we can start scoring and not conceding so much.”

Cessnock City coach Brendan Slade admitted he was well aware of Wallsend’s attacking prowess but was confident his solid defence is up to the task of containing them.

“We’ve just got to keep the ball away from their dangerous players as much as we can.

“We just can’t let them get in dangerous positions. If we do, we have to shut them down pretty quickly. It’s as simple as that.”

Herald Women’s Premier League Round 4 Review

Story courtesy of Northern NSW Football

Wallsend 3 (Libby Copus-Brown, Laura Hall, Sass Seaborn) defeated Adamstown 1 (Olivia Trinka) at Adamstown No.1 on Sunday.
Half-time: Wallsend led 2-1.

Wallsend bounced back from a disappointing loss last week to down Adamstown 3-1 in a physical battle at Adamstown No.1 on Sunday.

Multiple yellow cards, one red card and plenty of arm-wrestling, this match had it all.

Adamstown was first on the board after Olivia Trinka scored in the 5th minute but the celebration was short lived as Wallsend answered one minute later with a free kick from Libby Copus-Brown finding the back of the net.

The Devil’s scored again in the 19th minute when a Sass Seaborn strike bounced off the post and found Laura Hall who was able to put it away.

Ten minutes into the second half, Sass Seaborn was at it again and almost scored for the visitors but Buds’ keeper Olivia Sneddon made a spectacular one-handed save and put in a strong performance all game.

Wallsend were down to 10 players in the 75th minute after Jessica Evans was handed a red card for back-chatting the referee but that didn’t stop them with Seaborn sprinting to the goals and striking low into the left corner.

Seaborn was one of the Devil’s best players on the day who constantly made penetrating runs and was difficult to contain. Danielle Nicol and Brooke Summers were outstanding defensively and were able to shut down any attacking play from Adamstown.

Courtney Wiltshire and Jocelyn Rae were standout players in an average Adamstown team with Elodie Dagg performing to her usual high standard.

Adamstown coach Paul Devitis believes Wallsend won the match in the first half with their strong start.

“I have to give Wallsend a lot of credit as they were very good,” Devitis said.

“At halftime, we spoke about being patient and improving our pass quality and that was the difference between us and Wallsend.

“Physically, we were in the battle but they had too much energy. It may have possibly been that we had to play mid-week but we failed to do the simple things.”

Wallsend coach Marc Hingston praised the girls for the courage they showed with only ten players in the back end of the second half.

“Defence was a big focus for us during the week and ensuring that Adamstown had no room to work in,” Hingston said.

“Courage definitely got us over the line but I was really impressed with their enthusiasm and willingness to play for each other.

“I thought we played as good as any team in the competition in the first fifteen minutes of the game and keeping that consistency is definitely something we will be working on.”

NEWFM Northern League One Round 3 Review

Story courtesy of Northern NSW Football

Wallsend FC 3 (Matt Williams, Sam Bradshaw, Wez Pryce) def. Belmont-Swansea United 2 (Mitch Harper x2)
Sunday 1st April, 4:00 pm, Blacksmiths Oval 

For the second week in a row, Wallsend would play a ‘home’ match at their opponent’s home ground, but again, it didn’t seem to faze them as they ran out as impressive victors against last year’s Grand Finalists, Belswans.

After receiving a 9-0 drubbing at the same ground last season, the Red Devils kicked on this match in extremely different fashion as Matt Williams scored very early on to give his team the lead and all the momentum.

Wallsend were making all the early chances with last week’s scorers Sam Bradshaw and Ty Goldsmith, both coming very close to finding another as it seemed Belswans just weren’t able to match the intensity displayed from the ‘home team.’

Wallsend’s gusto would eventually pay off though as Bradshaw eventually got his goal after a crazy, scrambling effort inside the box which was followed by a stunning strike from new-man Wez Pryce, to give the Red Devils a commanding 3-0 lead.

Young forward Cameron Lodge tried to propel Belswans back into the contest in the second half with a scintillating run past multiple Wallsend defenders and low cross to Sean Matthews who just missed the goal, and it seemed that energy began to spark the rest of the team as Mitch Harper finally got one back for his team and the momentum in their favour.

With only minutes remaining, Harper again found the back of the net, but it was an unfortunate case of ‘too little, too late’ for the boys from Blacksmiths and Wallsend continued their impressive, undefeated start to the year.

Wallsend coach Ben Edwards, stated that his side hadn’t contemplated the huge loss they suffered at the hands of Belswans last season and he was just focusing on their own game.

“We didn’t think about it at all,” Edwards admitted.

“There was only about two of the eleven from that game.”

“We’re better off than we were last year.”

Edwards praised his team all across the park for their “high-tempo football” and said he was very impressed and happy with the win.

“It was a game of two halves really.

“Our first half was incredible.“We were just trying to match it with them.”

NEWFM Northern League One Round 1 Preview

Story and photo courtesy of Northern NSW Football

Toronto-Awaba Stags vs. Wallsend FC
Sunday 18 March, 2:30 pm
Lyall Peacock Field 

Toronto-Awaba will host a renewed Wallsend team at Lyall Peacock Field for their first game of the season.

After an awfully disappointing campaign in the Ampcontrol Heritage Cup where they didn’t score a single goal, Wallsend will be hoping to put last weekend behind them and new coach Ben Edwards believes his side is still capable of big things this year.

“We’ve been working on playing forward, getting into the right areas and playing the right balls and it’s been working right up until the Heritage Cup,” said Edwards.

“There’d be alarm bells if we weren’t creating the chances I think. We’re still creating the chances though, just unfortunately sometimes they don’t come off in football.”

Edwards stated that despite Toronto-Awaba keeping rather quiet about their signings throughout the pre-season, that his side is still anticipating a strong opposition.

“I’m expecting a lot.”

“They always bring something decent to the table when we play them.”

For Toronto-Awaba, they’ll, unfortunately, be missing two first graders in Michael Bru and Hayden Jensen.

Coach Adam Routledge admitted that they may struggle to gel together defensively towards the start of the year, but their attack will be a big strength.

“Our defence is where we’ve worked on in pre-season,” said Routledge.

“It might take us a few rounds to get going.”

“We’re a fairly attacking side, we’ve definitely got some go-forward.”

Routledge confessed he hadn’t researched his Round One opponent’s all too much, stating that he expected a tough game, but he was mostly focused on his own side.

“They’re [Wallsend] usually pretty physical and obviously competitive – which is what you want to start the season really.”

“I know it’s the old cliché, but we’re just worrying about us.”