The Wanderers responded in style to last weekend’s defeat, coming from behind to secure a 3-2 victory over Hills United at Wanderers Football Park.
An early deficit did not deter a resilient Wanderers side who were able to overturn the scoreline through the attacking exploits of Allyssa Ng-Saad, earning a hat-trick in the tie at Wanderers Football Park Sunday evening.
It wasn’t the start of dreams for the Wanderers against the visiting Hills United. Mary Stanic-Floody opened the scoring for the visitors within the opening 10 minutes of the fixture, a long range effort that found its way into the Wanderers goal following a deflection off the crossbar.
What followed for a lion’s share of the first half was a barrage of Wanderers attack and chances, most notably created down the left and right flanks by Alvina Khoshaba and Mia Nataly respectively.
The first for the Wanderers came from one of these chances late in the opening half when Khoshaba won the ball on the Hills United goal line and made an incredibly tight run across it to thread a low driven cross into Ng-Saad for her first of three in the tie.
It was just over a minute into the second half where the Wanderers would get their second. An intuitive counter-attacking move spurred on by a ball won by Nataly high up the field would see Ng-Saad grab her second.
Pressing off the restart following the goal, the Wanderers would force a turnover in possession almost immediately, Amy Barker first to the ball for Wanderers, driving the ball down the left-hand side of the field for Mia Nataly who would then put the final ball in for Allyssa Ng-Saad, stretching a foot out to hit the ball against the underside of the crossbar and just across the line.
The Wanderers would see their attacking momentum come to a halt however when Aya Seino would make way through heavy Red and Black traffic to score for the visitors. From this point onward, golden chances at scoring were few and far between.
It was the visitors that found themselves favoured to score in the closing moments of the match. Chances from the visitors were unable to find a clear path through the Wanderers defence or the right side of the crossbar, at one stage a shot reverberating against it as seen twice before in the fixture, this time to no scoring avail.
Despite facing a late attacking charge from the visitors, the Wanderers stood strong against the wave of attack and were able to close out the tie comfortably with fleeting chances of their own.
It didn’t take long for the Wanderers to re-enter the winners circle in NPL Women’s NSW competition, a place they’ve found themselves throughout most of the season in what has been an incredible run so far.
There’s still plenty of football ahead but the Wanderers can walk away from the tie Sunday evening cautious but proud as they near their first ever potential NPL Women’s NSW Finals series.
