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30/07/00
United Advance To SWANZ Cup Semis
by Jeremy Ruane
Three Kings United bounced back from their performance nadir of the season just four days previously to hand out a 5-0 hiding to Albany United at Rosedale Park on July 30, to move into the semi-finals of the Uncle Toby’s SWANZ Knockout Cup.
Their performance in this match, in particular their first half display, was far more in keeping with the standards set by the side in the past three seasons, as the cup holders set about their task with a vengeance.
Inspired by Simone Ferrara, who had a field day down the left flank at Albany’s expense, United came close to opening the scoring just thirty-five seconds into play. The silky-skilled SWANZ international was at the forefront of a dazzling six-pass move, which culminated in her playing a one-two with Caroline Crittenden before drilling a shot goalwards from the edge of the penalty area. Albany’s goalkeeper, Leanne Lawrence, parried it to safety.
Ninety seconds later, Crittenden cracked one narrowly past the upright, after working a one-two with Kim Rowney to conclude an Emma Lothian-inspired raid.
A further four minutes elapsed before Ferrara set off on her next foray, a bewitching run which left four Albany opponents completely bemused. Her twenty-five yard shot, following a one-two with Crittenden, deserved better fate than to creep narrowly past the far post.
After another Ferrara effort had given Lawrence cause for concern, Rowney had the goalkeeper in a mad panic in the eleventh minute, as she homed in on a Crittenden cross into the goalmouth. Chaos reigned in Albany’s goal area for at least thirty seconds, as the striker, the goalkeeper and three defenders each attempted to control the sphere, a feat which Lawrence ultimately managed, albeit by grabbing the ball from between the legs of Anita Sloot.
Tarah Cox and Maia Jackman both chanced their arm from distance soon after, before a super crossfield pass from Ferrara sent Jackman careering away down the right on the quarter-hour. She beat Lawrence in the race for the ball, and shot goalwards on the stretch, only for Lisa Greenall to intervene.
Her clearance was gathered by Stacey O’Hara, who played the ball inside to Anne-Marie Scott, who, for the second game in a row, hit the woodwork from distance, the post coming to Albany’s aid on this occasion.
United were rampant, and went closer still two minutes later. Scott’s measured diagonal pass released the overlapping Lothian down the left, who whipped in a low cross for Crittenden. Her shot was destined for the back of the net, until Lawrence finger-tipped it onto the crossbar.
With all this pressure, a goal simply had to come, and Scott notched it in the nineteenth minute, battering the ball into the bottom right-hand corner of the net with a first-time shot from twenty yards.
Within three minutes, the SWANZ Cup holders had struck a second goal. Jackman sent Rowney scampering clear of the defence, and she coolly picked her spot beyond the advancing Lawrence from the edge of the penalty area.
Another Scott effort sizzled past the post, before Ferrara delivered a corner which Jackman headed skywards. Rowney headed the ball down for Cox upon its descent, but the SWANZ international was thwarted by the bounce of the ball, much to Lawrence’s relief.
This proved short-lived, as Three Kings struck their third goal of the game in the 29th minute. Lothian sent Ferrara off down the left, from where she delivered a low cross into the danger zone. Rowney’s shot left Lawrence stranded, and Jackman nipped in to tap home.
Ferrara richly deserved a goal, but was thwarted in her attempts to find the target by Lawrence in the 33rd minute. A very tidy free-flowing move featuring Cox, Crittenden, Rowney and Jackman saw the last-mentioned deliver a cross onto the head of Ferrara, the ball bulleting straight at Lawrence from the edge of the area.
Anita Brannigan was at the heart of United’s next move, releasing Ferrara down the left with a made-to-measure pass on the worst surface Three Kings has played on all season. Rowney overstepped her team-mate’s low cross, which completely wrong-footed the defence, leaving Jackman to pass the ball into the net - a simple finish to a clinical move, which brought about the 4-0 half-time scoreline.
Five minutes into the second spell, Ferrara was off down the left again, this time whipping in a cross which Lawrence pawed down ... straight to the feet of Crittenden, who smashed home the fifth goal of the game with no little amount of venom.
It was to prove United’s last of the day, as coach Lee Green, with a semi-final berth secure, took the opportunity against relatively weak opposition to experiment with the make-up of his largely young side - only Cox, Jackman, O‘Hara and Scott, of the starting eleven, were regular members of the starting line-up in last season’s team.
Ferrara, after heading wide following a move involving Scott, Cox and Jackman, was replaced by Liz O’Meara in the 55th minute, having picked up one too many knocks as the home team resorted to foul means, rather than fair, to curtail her creativity.
A brief lull in the intensity of United’s play followed, as the players acclimatised to the revised line-up, but come the 68th minute, they were pressing for more goals, Cox twice denied in the shadows of the crossbar as Crittenden’s corners caused Albany any amount of problems.
The home team gave their supporters something to cheer about fourteen minutes from time. Mandy Piper, deputising in goal for Michelle Hodge, cleared the ball to Sloot, who headed the ball through for Leanne Walker. The lanky striker headed the ball past Piper, but was unable to get adequate contact on the sphere to guide it between the uprights.
Three minutes from time, in a match in which Mary-Lou Hendricks and Lothian caught the eye in support of the irrepressible Ferrara, the impressive Scott was denied a second goal by Lawrence, but 5-0 was United’s lot, and a home semi-final against arch-rivals Lynn-Avon United their reward.
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