Blacktown City 1 SD Raiders 2
The anguish at the final whistle was real for Blacktown City as the realisation dropped that SD Raiders had all but booked the fourth spot in the finals series at their expense with a come-from-behind victory in a thriller at Landen Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Buoyed by an early goal from Emily Jackson, City’s good fortune in defence ran out when Sara Ristevska slid home the equaliser after a period of sustained pressure. Going into the second half, with the game on a knife-edge and both teams having good chances, the killer goal came from Angelique Chowrimootoo, teeing up a last ten minutes of desperation as City tried to rescue their season. In the end, it was the fingertips of Raiders’ goalkeeper Brooke Edwards that kept out a low effort from Courtney Kitching and SD Raiders saw the game out professionally to claim their most vital three points of the season.
The rain that has plagued Sydney for the last two weeks had stopped by kick-off, but it wouldn’t be for long, the majority of the crowd huddled in the main stand or finding shelter around the stadium, but ready to be entertained by two exciting teams in the Football NSW Girls Youth League 2 Under 18s. City were straight on the attack, Zoe Thompson playing in Lily Waterhouse on the right, but the cross was easily dealt with by the SD Raiders defence. A corner though on the left, as the heavens opened, saw Dominique Ashton deliver a dangerous ball into the six-yard box, and as the visitors’ defence stood and watched, Jackson was the only player reacting to the ball, and the unorthodox half-volley was rifled goalwards, goalkeeper Edwards only able to palm the ball into the roof of the net. This was a shock early lead for the hosts, and their rich seam of form looked to be continuing.
Mille Brown and Harper Ingham were busy at the back for the visitors, who were struggling to find their passes early in the game, and when Angelica Conate combined with Brianna Tinney, Ashton and Emilie Chandran to calmly clear a dangerous situation, confidence was coursing through the City team. Raiders attacked, Jade Deura prising open the City defence, Courtney Mackenzie racing from her goal to slice the ball wildly into the air, and Tinney was on hand to sweep away the danger. When Sofia Knezevic slipped past Ashton, City were relieved to see Tinney slide in to clear again, and when Ashton was outmuscled this time by Knezevic, the first-time shot was fortunately straight at Mackenzie. The warning shots had been fired.
City relied on their prowess on the wings, Lara Green setting Rachel Fry away on the right to win a corner off her defender. Ashton’s corner was into the sweet spot again, a mad scramble seeing the ball roll favourably for Edwards in the visitors’ goal who was relived to have a simple save.
Chandran wowed the benches with a subtle jink that allowed her to race down the left, Waterhouse and Thompson unable to forge an opening despite making a nuiance of themselves. Green was then forced to concede a corner with Deura lurking as SD Raiders pressed again, and a superb move between Ayeun Majak and Deura on the left was cleared by the City defence. City were hemmed in, but were dangerous on the counter-attack, Sienna Bell taking advantage of a weak clearance to tee up a shot, the ball spilled by Edwards, but there were no takers for City on the rebound and Ingham cleared.
The referee was making the game quite exciting, the crowd kept in suspense as to which way the decisions went, and when the man in the middle called a handball the visitors’ way, just outside the Raiders’ area, the assistant referee and the vocal crowd was quick to correct him; Ashton’s shot from the set piece was always going over, but not by much.
The Raiders then produced an absolute peach of a move, Majak raking a ball out to Leanne Merce, who found Ristevska with a first time ball, galloping clear, but Mackenzie did enough to put her off, and the shot was wide of the gaping goal. There were panicky moments a minute later when Merce played a ball across goal and Ristevska poked wide, and surely the pressure would pay.
The equaliser was a thing of beauty. Deura raced away up the left and delivered the sort of ball that any striker dreams of. The City defence was nowhere to be seen as Ristevska latched onto the exquisite cross-field pass, took a touch and steered the ball past the stranded Mackenzie for a superb goal.
Ingham’s wild swipe at the ball saw Bell win a throw-in to keep the Raiders defence alert, and when Courtney Kitching was fouled on halfway, the home team wasted the opportunity by going short, the cross-field ball to Green on the right too far and the chance gone. Charlotte Yule then found herself in a good position on the left for the visitors, Tinney doing well to marshall the ball out of play.
City still had some attacking ideas, Jackson finding Green on the right, whose cross was headed away by the towering Ingham. When Green was taken down by Majak, there were only ten seconds on the clock and the rushed free kick led to nothing, the half-time whistle bringing an exciting first half to a close with the scores locked at one goal a-piece.
The unpredictable conditions continued into the second half, the first few minutes played in sunshine before heavy rain once again sent the fans undercover. Waterhouse did well to close down her defender as City started brightly, her cross causing indecision in the Raiders’ defence, Edwards not interested in fielding the ball, and Green was able to keep the move alive on the right.
Bell then fashioned a shot that was deflected and bounced into the penalty area, where the dynamic midfielder had continued her run, but a harsh handball call from the referee stopped her in her tracks. Fantastic strength by Jackson saw her emerge from defence to tee up Sarah De Sousa on the right, but Majak was strong in the tackle.
A fantastic turn by Green on the right saw her cut inside and fire in a shot that was well saved by Edwards, the ball pushed away and cleared under pressure as City looked to force their opponents back. Tinney was involved in the majority of tussles, Knezevic quick to go to ground under pressure from the City central defender, before De Sousa was bundled over by Majak and City had a free kick of their own.
As Raiders struggled to get the ball away, Chandran turned quickly and played an unexpected pass inside for Kitching, who advanced but missed her shot completely. A clearance from City then looked to be going out until De Sousa raced to keep the ball in, City camping themselves in the Raiders’ half for a good spell of pressure.
Tinney though was penalised again for what appeared to be a clean tackle, this time Deura stepping up to smash the ball over the wall and onto the bar, Knezevic first to react but turning the ball just over the bar with a cute effort and holding her head in her hands as it nestled onto the roof of the net.
Jackson emerged from defence only to be fouled. From the free kick, Green raced to keep a ball in on the right, and when she moved inside, Thompson took over and smashed a shot in on goal that only just cleared the crossbar. This really was end-to-end excitement, both teams going close. When Jackson was dispossessed in midfield, Angelique Zekyrias raked a glorious ball to Merce but Tinney was first to the cross and swept the ball away.
A giveaway by Ashton had Tinney scrambling to concede a corner, and when the ball was cleared, Bell raced up the centre of the field to release Fry, but she had gone too eearly and the flag was up immediately.
Again, Raiders threatened up the left, Tinney cutting out the cross for yet another corner. This time the corner caused mayhem in the City defence, Conate cleared the ball off the line, but the ball fell for Chowrimootoo who smashed the ball goalwards out of the reach of Mackenzie for a thrilling second goal for the visitors.
Kitching then did well to win a corner on the left as City started to throw everything at their opponents in search of the elusive goal. Ashton’s cross saw Tinney barged off the ball in the penalty area in front of the referee, who was totally unmoved, and when City attacked again, Mickayla Gadd’s long ball was deflected by Majak to present the home team with another corner. This time Ashton’s corner from the right was too close to the goal, pinging off the cross bar and behind and the minutes were ticking.
The chance that City craved arrived with four minutes remaining. Jackson made a trademark run through midfield, jinking one way and the other to make up the yards, and when she ran out of space, a delightful pass found Kitching racing through on the left. City’s high-scoring defender took her time and rasped in a left-foot shot, Edwards flinging herself to her left to touch the ball around the post for a corner, her teammates rushing to congratulate the match-winning save.
Jackson battled to force the ball goalwards in an almighty melee in the penalty area following Ashton’s corner, but SD Raiders cleared, and when Ava Zaami raced onto a swift pass, Chandran had no option but to scythe down her opponent, the referee brandishing the yellow card after consulting the assistant, perhaps ruling against a straight red.
That was enough to wind down the clock as Zaami limped from the field, and despite their best efforts, City couldn’t get the ball upfield for one last effort on goal. The slightly premature final whistle didn’t rob us of any action, and the silence from the home crowd told the story, Blacktown City having been unsuccessful in their attempt to close the gap on their opponents in fourth place.
Blacktown City now have three games remaining to consolidate their lofty position in the GYL2 ladder. A difficult Friday night trip to Nowra in a rainy week could be a potential banana skin before Sunday’s trip to Sutherland. With SD Raiders up against league leaders St George next weekend, the gap between 4th and 5th could be a single point going into the final day; Blacktown City are not mathematically out of contention yet. Stay with us. Let’s finish the season with a bang!
Thanks for reading. Difficult conditions out there today, and not a great batch of photos on the whole. Any mistakes or mistaken identity, drop me a line, and stay tuned for the run in to the end of the 2025 Girls Youth League season. As always, your like, comment and share on social media is much appreciated, spread the word!