Final home game, first win for Southern

After four straight loses in the 2020 league, our Southern United Women’s team has locked in a 2-1 win against WaiBOP, bumping them up from the bottom of the table above Central.

The first 11 started off strong with the first goal from Amy Hislop at the 14 minute mark. Shortly after at 30’ Chelsea Whittaker managed to score, yet was unfortunately disallowed and pulled up as a foul against WaiBOP’s keeper.

This didn’t dampen the teams spirit, and the confidence of the first goal was still evident. With a 1-1 score at half time, Amy Hislop came back with another goal at 54’ in putting SU back in the lead.

Final score of 2-1 to SU gave them the three points needed to overtake Central Football on the table.

Southern’s head coach Ignacio Sande said the team were feeling good after wining the last home game, which was special for both players and supporters.

“After a win, everything looks better, but the reality is that the team had a few very good moments during the season, however unfortunately could not get the positive results until this game.

“We are very happy with how the team played, especially in the second half when they had their best performance of the season so far.

“It was great to see the team work together and score three goals (one disallowed), and proved we need to keep working in front of the goal and focus on accuracy.”

This win comes late in the season, but is still positive as lifts Southern off the bottom of the table to be one point behind WaiBOP, and two above Central.

The top three teams Canterbury United Pride, Auckland Football, and Northern Lights all remain close in points. This weekends results will determine a position in the final on the 22nd Dec.

Southern United’s center back Kelsey Kennard said while it would’ve been nice to play two rounds this season, everyone still feels grateful to have had a league at all.

“There has always been a strong sense of togetherness within the squad, and I think it shows how much progress we have made as a region over the last five or so years.

“We are expecting a really tough game, I think the results over the last couple of seasons have proved just how close the league can be!”

Kennard said the team are wanting to finish the season on a high, and they will go out strong and work hard to get it.

This weekend Central will host SU in Palmerston North for the final game of the season. Live streaming via Sky Sport NEXT, link will be on our Facebook page prior to kick off.