X11 Ladies League matchday 7 report. Tacking to take the racing line around the top buoy.
Code:
Division 2b
The Liver FC 2 - 2 Viking South Utsira
Stojanac 41' Fudida 79', 89'
Brennan 50'
Cardinal (sent off) 92'
Division 4h
Cataluna Cats 2 - 3 Drakaina
Zosimova 43' Sietaridis 4'
Goreva 88' Winter 54', 90'
Division 4i
Tartan Tawties FC 0 - 0 Coxy Ladies Wulpen
Division 4k
Kanjeng Ratu Kidul WFC 0 - 1 Victorious Secret
Lopez 20'
Division 5:16
LNWR Locomotive 2 - 0 Watergate Bay Surfers
Zakarian 20'
Perätalo 95'
Division 6:4
Erbil 6 - 0 FandaYona
Besen 3', 58'
Brundin 10', 82'
McCan 12', 65'
Division 6:39
Chili Babes 1 - 3 Sockford Emollient
Jarlson 55' Bjerkefors 4'
Batistuta 34'
True 51'
Division 6:41
Invisible Ladies 7 - 1 Perfect Ladies
Paul 22', 26', 60' Ritchie 45'
Williamson 39'
Carr (pen) 66'
Björkgren 69'
Crouch 81'
Division 6:42
Riverwood Town FC 0 - 6 Solent Sirens
Ulander 7'
Högardh 12'
Abbiati 26'
Stieglecker 29', 35'
de Beauvoir 90'
Witches of Chiswick 3 - 2 Zenit Odenplan Ladies
Altstrand 17' Akamine 15'
Kurisawa 45' Somanic 39'
Ota 76'
Division 6:56
Menywod Maeshafn 4 - 1 Scorpions
Corleone 16', 34' Sibilano 5'
Käck 30'
Boye 46'
Division 6:57
Dublin City Womens FC 1 - 0 Aherla Ladies
Kåmark 76'
Division 6:62
Csiki Girls 0 - 0 FC.Bayern Mädchen
McInns (sent off) 84'
Division 7:27
girls de charneca 8 - 0 Forest Mountain Falcons
Heatley 6', 34'
Áláfinesse 8', 14', 79'
Fetele 12', 37'
Redman 25'
Is back-to-back promotion a possibility for Viking South Utsira? For sure it is, but to make it happen The Blood Eagles need points from games such as Tuesday’s visit to strugglers The Liver FC.
The first half was pretty even, with chances shared one each by the sides, though Liver’s sole opportunity was converted to give them a half-time lead. No respect. Disappointment gave way to calamity when the hosts doubled their advantage early in the second period. Life has a way of throwing everything at you if you wait around for so long, Viking bearing the whips and scorns of time until they pulled one back through Manuças Fudida on 79 minutes, and then drew level via the same player with 89 on the clock.
Velvet Android’s girls even had a brief chance to steal it when Liver’s Catarina Cardinal was shown a straight red card in stoppage time. The hosts saw referee Wanda Rinn as an oppressor for this and insisted she was quite wrong, despite seemingly obvious evidence to the contrary. Indeed the Free Catarina t-shirts were already printed and on sale around the ground by the time the final whistle was blown mere seconds later.
A draw was a decent result for The Blood Eagles, given the position they had been in after 50 minutes. The point gained actually drew them closer to the Division 2b play-off spot, as Van Helsings GLS suffered a surprise defeat.
With the sides occupying the two spots directly below Drakaina meeting, the pressure was on Etienne’s side to get a positive result from their trip to Cataluna Cats.
The Dragons got off to the perfect start when Laria Sietaridis crashed home from distance with just 4 minutes on the watch. However it was quickly apparent that this was highly unlikely to be enough as the game turned into an extremely open encounter with opportunities at both ends, the second goal of the game did duly arriving for The Cats in the last few minutes of the opening half.
Sometimes a decent first half is followed by quite a dull second period. Not here. In fact things got even livelier after the break, Grace Winter striking one of the many chances to put the Greeks back in front on 54 minutes. Despite the welter of openings Winter’s strike was looking increasingly like the winner until Cataluna drew level on 88 minutes. Gracie was not to be denied though, heading home Silvia Atum’s cross two minutes later to once again ensure she made the headlines.
How valuable was the win? Well, it means Drakaina reach the halfway point of Division 4h outside the drop zone in fifth place, two points clear of trouble.
Emiliano Zappata once put into words the concept of heroically going on the attack when against the odds. Coxy Ladies Wulpen took the modern Football approach of saying ‘bollocks to that’ and set themselves up to grind out a 0-0 draw at Tartan Tawties FC.
And it worked for Janik’s side, the hosts being restricted to a handful of chances all of which were seen off by goalkeeper Sarah Asselman. The Waders even had a couple of unexpected opportunities of their own, but neither was converted and they slunk away with what they came for.
It leaves Wulpen resolutely mid-table in Division 4i, sitting in fourth place, five points behind second and five points ahead of sixth.
Ugh. Kanjeng Ratu Kidul WFC, bottom and winless against Victorious Secret, top and undefeated and managed by a sexist prick to boot.
It went to form, so not one to dwell on, really. There was also an injury for SeanoftheShed’s side, Adèle Pailloux picking up a 9-day knock that might keep her out of the immediate return fixture between the sides next week.
It’s going to take a major turnaround in the second-half of the season for The Sea Spirits to survive in Division 4k, as they have reached halfway bottom of the table and nine points from safety.
LNWR Locomotive took on a Watergate Bay Surfers in what was a must-win game for The Steamers. That was because the side in fifth were playing the local zombie*, making Watergate, who sat four points ahead of Locomotive in fourth, the most realistic target for Viktor Boskovic’s charges to close on as they seek to climb out of the Division 5:16 drop zone.
LNWR took the lead on 20 minutes when Gayane Zakarian turned in Ragna Hofvander’s free-kick and looked the side most likely to add to that for the rest of the game. In fact they did exactly that, but it did take all of the rest of the match and then some, Karlo Perätalo’s clincher coming in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
A defeat would have left The Steamers six points adrift and in real trouble, but victory moved them to within one point of Watergate and safety.
* - as was. In fact the bottom-of-the-table side have gained a new manager this week, and an experienced and seemingly useful one at that. Arriving exactly at mid-season is at least fair on everyone else in this section.
Erbil are marching relentlessly towards promotion. The latest opponents to be casually bowled out of their path were the weirdly named FandaYona.
The visitors are both actively managed and a team with a sensible average age, but despite that this was brutal stuff. Jdsx’s girls’ were three to the good within 12 minutes as each of Tülin Besen, Sandra Brundin and Margaret McCan netted. The chances kept on coming, Erbil racking up double figures before half-time, but a fourth goal didn’t arrive until Besen’s second of the day on 58 minutes.
A few minutes after that McCan made it five, with her second on her debut in senior Football. Which was a pretty impressive showing all told. Brundin wasn’t going to be left out of all this brace scoring and also struck a personal second on 82 minutes to round out the afternoon.
Erbil have reached the halfway stage of Division 6:4 with a perfect seven from seven record. They have scored 33 and only conceded once. There are a fair few 100% records in Division 6, but none of them can match Erbil’s +32 goal difference. And neither can second-placed side in 6:4, Djuped BK, who are three points and crucially -12 GD back.
It was the biggie in Division 6:39, the first of two straight matches between Sockford Emollient and Chili Babes that will surely decide the destiny of the title.
This meeting took place on the road for The Gatorsharks. They didn’t seem discombobulated by that however, tearing into their opponents from the get go, Terese Bjerkefors racing clear to open the scoring after just 4 minutes. Alexia Batistuta headed home a corner to make it two with 34 on the clock, which was also the half-time score and a merited one for Foxy265’s side given the 6-1 imbalance in their favour in terms of chances.
When Lise True headed a third on 51 minutes any score seemed possible. However a carnivore must take time to digest after gulping down a big meal, and a Gatorshark counts as a carnivore squared so we will forgive giving away a sloppy goal back soon after.
That was the only hope given to the terrified hosts, who must now dip their toes into the Gatorsharks pool next week with blood in the water, Sockford having climbed above their opponents to take the lead spot in Division 6:39 at the halfway stage.