A superb team performance saw the Redbacks dominate their young NTC opponents under the lights at Macedonia Park on Friday night.
The 5 -1 scoreline was a just reward for their excellent play, and the goals were shared around 5 different players, with 16-year-old Hannah Insch scoring on her senior debut,
The home team quickly established a stranglehold on the game and pressed their opponents at every opportunity, forcing errors and turnovers in every area of the pitch.
As early as the 6th minute Sarah Carroll and Jayna Ridley dispossessed the NTC deep in their own half and Carroll slipped a lovely through ball into the path of Larissa Walsh, but the teams leading scorer was unable to get her foot around it and the ball went out for a goal kick.
The goal that the team had been threatening arrived in the 9th minute. Some good work by Walsh on the left wing saw her beat her full back and pull the ball back to the top of the box where Jacinta Coleman was waiting and unmarked. She took a touch before hitting an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net for her second of the campaign.
The lead was then doubled in the 17th minute when Sarah Carroll was fouled 20 metres out and the referee awarded a free-kick. Sarah herself stepped up and curled the ball up and over the wall into the bottom corner to score her fourth of the season.
The team was really playing well now and nearly scored a third in the 23rd minute when Emily Dunn dispossessed her opponent to win the ball and feed Jayna Ridley. Ridley beat a defender and then slipped the ball into the path of Walsh, but her first-time effort went the wrong side of the post.
NTC then provided a reminder that they have some very talented players of their own and carved out a terrific opening for Daisy McAllister who tucked her shot into the net to make it 2-1.
Any hopes of a revival by the NTC were quickly snuffed out early in the second half when the impressive Olivia Woods was adjudged to have been fouled in the penalty area in the 46th minute. Kim Carroll stepped up to take the penalty and made no mistake from the spot to restore a two-goal lead for Redbacks.
Three goals became four ten minutes later. Walsh fed Woods just inside her own half, who shrugged off the defenders challenge and then slipped a pass into Ridley. She then played a first-time ball out to debutant Insch. The 16-year-old took her shot first time and the NTC keeper did well to block the ball, but the rebound fell to Insch who then slotted the ball into the net for her first-ever senior goal to make the score 4-1.
In the 76th minute, Captain Shawn Billam played a neat pass into the path of Wood down the left-wing. The youngsters touch took her past the NTC defender, but she was then brought down with a nasty challenge from behind. The referee had no choice but to reach for his cards, and as Georgia Cassidy had already been booked earlier in the game, her second yellow turned to red and she was dismissed. From the resulting free-kick, Kim Carroll sent the ball into the NTC box and Woods was on hand to head home for her 3rd of the season to make the scoreline 5-1.
A terrific result by the team and one that keeps them top of the table for another week.
Kim Carroll post-game.
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