Womens SL1 match report v Hawthorn

Waverley moved clear to the top of the table with a good 2-0 nil over Hawthorn on a very windy Saturday.

The conditions were not ideal and thankfully the Panthers played into the wind in the first half.

The big difference between the two teams on the weekend was the form of Victorian representative players taking the field. Emily Paton and Leah Merrett from Waverley were dominating the middle of the pitch closing down Hawthorn’s Australian player, Kary Chau.

Hawthorn won the first penalty corner for the match, they looked for a deflection but Eastman and Paton had the goal covered and saw the ball over the backline. After a few scares, Waverley were soon creating chances down the other end of the pitch.

Waverley’s first goal came from a penalty corner variation, Alex Watson finding herself in space in the circle to casually slip the ball passed the Hawthorn goal keeper.

Hawthorn continued to apply pressure and were looking for balls through to their very quick moving strikers, however Lucy Young and Lauren Law playing as flank halves were superbly snuffing out any threat.

Renee Trost was having a cracking game for the Panthers, even though she was being tagged her skill and pace showed why she is one of the top players in the competition. Trost moved the ball forward to find Kirsten Thompson in the circle. Thompson’s patience with the ball was rewarded with a penalty corner. This time the ball was passed to Paton on the left who scored Waverley’s second goal for the game.

The second half started with Hawthorn’s midfeld working harder to maintain possession of the ball, however they still could not find the elusive final pass and Waverley’s deep defence was never really tested.

Waverley continued to create more chances to score and looked dangerous on several occasions, however they could not add to their tally for the day.

Hawthorn’s best chance to score came when Eastman was harshly shown a yellow card and Waverley were reduced to 10 players, however the Panthers stood strong and showed why they are real contenders in 2010.

Fake ‘n bake best on ground: Emily Paton