WPW R20 vs Sydney FC | Sun 17th Mar | 4:00pm | Porirua Park / Sky Sport 1

Kinda surprised this wasn't moved up to Auckland to be a double header tbh. Sadly my flight back from Auckland rules me out of heading along to this :(

Tough challenge for the girls. Sydney seem to be in good form atm and have top spot in their sights. Sure we are at home, but they have had to travel back from Perth and re adjust to NZ time.
Still, in the last game and a half. goals for 6. goals against 2. That should build some confidence in front of goal. Hope they can keep up that scoring trend. I think that they are capable.

RR

Kinda surprised this wasn't moved up to Auckland to be a double header tbh. Sadly my flight back from Auckland rules me out of heading along to this :(

Good that the girls don't have to travel again tho. They've already had a ridiculous amount of away games recently

Massive loss for the last 4 games. Depth gonna be really tested at CDM now. Hope Taylor is well rested up and good to start this game.

Be a big result for us tonight if Canberra can beat WSW

A test for, presumably, Michaela Foster,as Courtney Vine has made it all too easy in recent games.

Sadly Canberra not helping.

Yeh. WSW now in box seat to get 6th spot. 
We play them last game of the season, so looks like we will need to be with-in 2 points of them leading into that game, and then beat them. If we don't beat Sydney we will need them to drop points somewhere along the way.
We play Sydney (H), Adelaide (H) Canberra (A). They play Perth (H) and WU (H). leading into that last game.

Fenix

A test for, presumably, Michaela Foster,as Courtney Vine has made it all too easy in recent games.

Foster did an outstanding job marking Vine in the away match. I'm sure she'll do even better at home.

Lake has been outstanding since coming in for Van der Meer. We will miss her aerial ability and also the way she drives forward into the midfield.   

From the Temple presser sounding like Taylor and Longo are unlikely starters. Those Football Fern trips have really cost this team in injuries to some of our best players this season......

What happened to Taylor by the way? I missed her injury. And did someone say she had surgery? Or was that someone spinning a yarn?!

Nice day for football in Porirua! Hope the girls get a decent crowd, I will be one of them that is for sure.

TAB have us at $5.50. Probably some value there considering our home record

I would have thought Cox would be starting, and interesting to see Main not in the squad. I hope neither are injured / carrying niggles and just being rested with big games ahead

More idiocy. Wearing black against Sydney blue

I still think we are still in this but another Sydney goal will finish us.  

Hard watch

first goal i can forgive, it was a nice piece of play from Sydney, but the secodn was just a calamity of defensive errors, first the defender tracking back misses the ball (forgiveable), the Foster hits the deck way too early and lets the ball go across her, then Jaber is just facing the wrong way to intercept the ball. It was only going one way at that point!
3rd for Sydney was again poor from our defenders, Sydney attacker just all by herself.
Our first came via a nice cross from Fraser, lovely header from Cox, that's pressure on the keeper!

Sydney defence not much better than ours as Speckmeier smashes home a poorly defended cross!
2-3

We are a much better with Cox on the field. 

Deflating. Pretty bad positioning from R Foster there.

Could do with Faghani here for these cheating…Aussies. 

Would be giving them a proper kicking, but I guess that’s what they want. Holding a f- team meeting in the middle of the pitch cos a player lost out in a fifty -fifty. Be getting a kick through the ankle from me next and Vine too. Diving cheating Sydney sharks.

And Hawkesby off her feet m, no ball, for no yellow. 

Remember retaliation gets a card red or yellow so kick them first and harder.

Nice play from Taylor. 3-4 with a couple to go would’ve been nice. 

martinb

And Hawkesby off her feet m, no ball, for no yellow. 

Remember retaliation gets a card red or yellow so kick them first and harder.

She not get a yellow for that fowl? I thought it was close to a red 

Feverish

martinb

And Hawkesby off her feet m, no ball, for no yellow. 

Remember retaliation gets a card red or yellow so kick them first and harder.

She not get a yellow for that fowl? I thought it was close to a red 

You’re a sharke Danny Tiatto! A sharke Danny Tiatto! A time warp of reffing compared to a day earlier…

Solid no yellow two footer no ball from behind Sydney challenge! 

Disappointing. Not very good first half, lost the ball or gave it away in midfield so much. Robertson and Elliott ,well,not good enough.
Should have changed it at half time, too late at 0-3. 
Barry and Foster did good work at the back. Taylor was impressive when she came on,and Cox added something. 
We can do better,and need to do better.

We are still very average at defending from set pieces, we also seemed to struggle with the 3 at the back rather than the 4. Not starting Cox was a mistake when all points matter at this stage.

Second was quite entertaining though, Vine and Sydney’s blingsharke besides. Would have loved to see what 3-4 would have been like…

And no VAR makes a difference. In the men that’s now 3 goals that would have been chalked off as offside. Perhaps there’s a quick look at the fraudulent head injury claim and play on called or Hawkesby gets sent and they react slowly. 

But anyway it’s second season and that second half was a strong return against the league leaders.

Fenix

Disappointing. Not very good first half, lost the ball or gave it away in midfield so much. Robertson and Elliott ,well,not good enough.
Should have changed it at half time, too late at 0-3. 
Barry and Foster did good work at the back. Taylor was impressive when she came on,and Cox added something. 
We can do better,and need to do better.

Elliott has been given a lot of time without product

Saw Nix legend Ben Sigmund leaving the game. Good to see he is still around.

After watching the replay, I'm afraid to say our defending was quite poor on all 4 goals. 

Not quite sure what our plan was for the 1st goal from the corner was, but we had 8 inside the box but no-one anywhere near the edge of the box or anywhere near Vine. Looks like we had 3 players right up and out of it.

Jaber did not have her best game Im afraid. 

We miss Lake and Van der Meer for sure from set pieces, and in their absence I think we have to have Taylor in there.

Feverish

Fenix

Disappointing. Not very good first half, lost the ball or gave it away in midfield so much. Robertson and Elliott ,well,not good enough.
Should have changed it at half time, too late at 0-3. 
Barry and Foster did good work at the back. Taylor was impressive when she came on,and Cox added something. 
We can do better,and need to do better.

Elliott has been given a lot of time without product

I imagine she'll slip well down the pecking order after that performance, however Temple's selections are often a strange and mysterious thing, like.. why not start Cox?

Where's Bri these days?

Fenix

After watching the replay, I'm afraid to say our defending was quite poor on all 4 goals. 

Not quite sure what our plan was for the 1st goal from the corner was, but we had 8 inside the box but no-one anywhere near the edge of the box or anywhere near Vine. Looks like we had 3 players right up and out of it.

Jaber did not have her best game Im afraid. 

We miss Lake and Van der Meer for sure from set pieces, and in their absence I think we have to have Taylor in there.

Don't forget three were off set pieces. Poor defending on them has absolutely plagued this season and last. 

Tough to take today - expected to lose, but their second and fourth goals were utterly comical defending, while the first and third could've done with better marking.

They are the (new) league leaders for a reason - but there's a feeling for me we could've had them today with a better defensive performance and Cox starting. We need to keep her at the club!

I agree with most of what’s been said. Thought we played well in patches. 
I really enjoyed Vine winding up the crowd. Thought her game improved from it, but still great fun. Being close enough to see reactions is the best thing about Porirua park. I never really knew why people always said a rectangular stadium was better as I’d only ever watched games at the cake tin 😎

Fenix

After watching the replay, I'm afraid to say our defending was quite poor on all 4 goals. 

Not quite sure what our plan was for the 1st goal from the corner was, but we had 8 inside the box but no-one anywhere near the edge of the box or anywhere near Vine. Looks like we had 3 players right up and out of it.

Jaber did not have her best game Im afraid. 

We miss Lake and Van der Meer for sure from set pieces, and in their absence I think we have to have Taylor in there.

True, that 1st goal/corner Phoenix had two players up on halfway by each touchline (which they continued all game, usually Fraser and Robertson) and a 3rd player by the centre circle who after the 1st goal/corner dropped back to the edge of the penalty area. To leave an international player so unmarked though on 2 set pieces is asking for trouble.