Jeni Black and the Casey Comets threw everything at Eltham North on Sunday, but collapsed in the final 10 minutes to a 3-1 defeat at Darebin International Sports Centre.By Marc McGowan
FOR 80 minutes, the Casey Comets and Eltham North threw everything at one another but could not break the 0-0 deadlock.
Unfortunately for the Comets, a soccer match is 90 minutes long and when full-time came on Sunday Eltham North had trumped them 3-1 in the Women’s Premier League battle at Darebin International Sports Centre (DISC).
Christine Pfeiffer slotted through Eltham North’s first goals before Tyla Jay Vlajnic gave the home team a 2-0 buffer as the ball slipped through the hands of Casey goalkeeper Emma Bracken.
The Comets’ 10 minutes of hell continued when a mix-up between Irena Taseski and Bracken resulted in the former scoring an own goal.
In Casey coach Deborah Nichols’ words, it was “game over”.
Teenager Marcie Algeria managed a consolation score two minutes from the whistle after being set up by some Rachel Lamb brilliance out wide, but it did not salvage the disappointment of another missed opportunity to make up ground on the ladder leaders.
The match was switched from its original Saturday timeslot at Eltham North Reserve to the slick DISC surface due to a clash with Eltham North’s men’s outfit.
The players were faced with wintry conditions, with a howling gale and torrential rain making conditions extremely difficult.
“We’ve played in a few windy games this year, but not too many wet days. We had a cold day when we played them there about this time last year, too,” Nichols said.
“Passes have to be from the top drawer on that surface because it’s so quick and it’s a completely different game.
“It’s an advantage for them because they get to play there every week at the moment, but in saying that, we worked our butts off for 80 minutes and had some chances.”
Despite praising her side’s effort, Nichols was unable to hide her frustration at another loss, which removed the Comets from the top five.
“It is so disappointing after working so hard,” she said.
“With 10 minutes to go away from home against a team fourth on the table I thought, ‘we’ll get a point here, beauty’ – it would have been a great result,” she said.
“We got draws against Heidelberg and Box Hill, so we can compete with (the top clubs), but we continually shoot ourselves in the foot.”
The Casey reserves suffered their first defeat in three weeks, losing 3-0 to Eltham North in the curtain raiser.
Casey returns to Comets Stadium on Sunday after two weeks on the road to combat Ashburton, and will be seeking revenge after losing 1-0 to the latter in round two.
The reserves start at 11am before the seniors take to the pitch at 1pm.
