Anna Carmichael endured a busy afternoon against Sandringham at Comets Stadium on Sunday, but was unable to prevent her team from going down 2-0. By Marc McGowan
THE Casey Comets are in grave danger of missing the Women’s Premier League top five for the first time in a decade after succumbing 2-0 to Sandringham at Comets Stadium on Sunday.
Only six weeks remain in the season and the Comets’ latest loss has them nine points in arrears of fifth-placed Sandringham.
The match provided Casey with an opportunity to move back into contention, but the Comets were unable to avenge their 3-0 defeat to the same side in round six.
The Comets were missing captain and sweeper Jeni Black again on the weekend, and her absence proved critical as the two scores came from errors in defence.
Sandringham swamped Casey in the first half, with the Comets rarely venturing into attack.
The visitors’ dominance was finally rewarded when Jocelyn Murdoch blasted the ball past Casey coach and goalkeeper Deborah Nichols.
It could have been avoided after Nichols passed the ball to Vanessa Hellar, who rather than clearing the ball put it back into dangerous territory, only for Murdoch to swoop.
Murdoch almost scored again soon after, but Nichols’ desperate lunge allowed teenage team-mate Anna Carmichael to end the threat.
The game went to half-time with the same scoreline and the Comets emerged from the break with renewed vigour.
They spent the first 20 minutes of the second half chasing the equaliser – including one shot that hit the post – but, as has so often been the case in 2007, Casey was unable to produce the goods.
Another defensive mistake by the Comets cruelly doubled the margin when Samantha Nashed coolly finished off a Sandringham foray.
Nichols rued the calamities at the defensive end and the fact her side was unable to convert for the umpteenth time this season.
“The two defensive errors were uncharacteristic of us because we’ve been really strong in that half of the ground,” she said.
“When you dominate a team for 20 or 25 minutes and don’t score, you get what comes to you.”
While Casey looks unlikely to be a part of finals action, Nichols maintains that her squad will continue to fight.
“We are on the brink of not making the finals, but we can mathematically still make it,” she said.
“It would be the first time in 10 years we wouldn’t make the top five, so if you look at it that way it’s not too bad, but obviously the club would be disappointed because we’ve invested a lot of time and money into the girls.
“We are going through a rebuilding stage and we may well have a few lean years.”
The Comets’ reserves were pipped 1-0 by Sandringham to continue their frustrating year.
Casey returns to the pitch on Sunday at Comets Stadium to take on red-hot Box Hill, which is cutting a swathe through the competition in recent weeks.
The reserves are on first at 11am before the seniors’ finals push begins again at 1pm.
