Beckenham Angels secured another three points despite an unconvincing 3-2 win over Balcatta at Mills Park on Sunday in the Bankwest Women’s State League Premier Division.
Report by Colin Outhwaite
Danielle Calautti, Andrea Preiato and Katarina Jukic converted their chances for Beckenham, making it difficult for Balcatta to salvage a result against the league leaders.
Sadie Lawrence scored from the spot in the first half and Gabrielle Walker grabbed one during a late onslaught but it was too little too late.
Beckenham coach Jason Washington-King was disappointed with the way his team played in the second half.
“At times we lost our concentration and the last 10 minutes I thought we were really poor,” he said.
“Balcatta played really well, but luckily we had three goals in the bank to play with and Kristy (Teschinsky) pulled off a couple of amazing saves.”
Calautti immediately proved to be a handful for Balcatta and in the eighth minute put in Beckenham’s first from a Lindsey Jobling cross.
Five minutes later Shannon May’s chip over the Balcatta defence drew out keeper Kirsty Grover for Preiato to execute a neat lob to make it 2-0.
Balcatta moved the ball around the midfield well at times and managed to break through the Angels tough defence in the 29th minute when Rebecca Dicarlo’s through ball put in Ashleigh Panaia, who was brought down in the box.
Jessica Ferguson was yellow carded for the foul and the resulting penalty was coolly converted into the bottom-right corner by Lawrence.
Balcatta’s defence rejuvenated its composure after the early two-goal setback and restricted the Angels to long shots from outside the box.
May struck a well-timed half volley in the 49th minute but it was Jukic who found a gap and squeezed a shot into the bottom-left corner from 25 yards a minute later.
Beckenham saw most of the possession after the third goal and Balcatta looked to be in for their third 3-1 loss in a row but they powered through and brought on a couple of late chances.
Tiahna Scandrett rattled the left hand post with a curling left-footed strike and 15-year-old Monique D’Opera lobbed one towards goal in the dying moments forcing Teschinsky into an impressive diving save.
They were finally rewarded for their resilience when Walker took advantage of the late surge and scored from D’Opera’s cross in the 89th minute.
Balcatta coach Lisa Tana said she was happy with the girls’ efforts.
“We were competitive for the whole game, and I thought we were in it all the way to the end,” she said.
“We turned the ball over cheaply at times and it cost us three goals, but I thought we created enough chances to maybe pinch something out of the game and we almost did at the end.”
BECKENHAM ANGELS 3 (CALAUTTI 8′, PREIATO 13′, JUKIC 50′)
BALCATTA 2 (LAWRENCE 30′, WALKER 89′)
Sunday May 25, 2014
Venue: Mills Park
Kick-off: 3.00pm
Referee: Mark Williams
BECKENHAM ANGELS: 1.Kristy TESCHINSKY (GK), 3.Kirby LARSEN, 4.Lindsey JOBLING, 5.Jessica FERGUSON, 6.Shannon MAY, 7.Annique KEISLER, 8.Jamie-Lee GALE, 9.Danielle CALAUTTI, 10.Kathryn CONROY, 11.Emma LEANING, 12.Stephanie CAIN, 13.Lindsey KENYON (c), 14.Caitlyn BROOMHEAD, 15.Andrea PREIATO, 16.Katarina JUKIC
Yellow cards: FERGUSON 30′
Red cards: Nil
BALCATTA: 1.Kirsty GROVER (gk), 2.Lauren DAVIDS (c), 3.Chelsie WINCHCOMBE 4.Rebecca DICARLO, 5.Amber HOFFMAN, 6.Nicola CAMPBELL , 7.Taylah GRIFFITHS, 8.Chelsea EVANS, 10.Tahlia D’OPERA , 11.Phillipa KING, 12.Tiahna SCANDRETT, 13.Monique D’OPERA, 14.Ashleigh PANAIA, 15.Katie MOTH, 16.Gabrielle WALKER, 17.Sadie LAWRENCE
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil
From footballwest.com.au