What an exciting start to our Umbro Women’s Premier League competition as we saw three thrilling games as teams look to find their feet in the competition.
Our Match of the Round saw heavyweights Georges River Thistle defeated by East Bankstown red.
Elsewhere, Birrong Sports and Revesby Workers White couldn’t be separated, while Revesby Workers Maroon defeated East Bankstown Yellow.
Match of the Round: Georges River Thistle 1-2 East Bankstown Red
East Bankstown Red started off their 2023 campaign red-hot fashion as they defeated the reigning 2022 champions Georges River Thistle 2-1.
The fixture will go down in UWPL history as it was the first UWPL match to be played out of Bankstown Football’s New Home of Football, Padstow Park Synthetic.
It did not take long for the game to have it’s first goal as Georges River Thistle winger Jorja Murray found the back of the net to give her side a 1-0 advantage.
East Bankstown’s heads did not look to drop as they looked to find and equaliser however with chances gone a begging by both sides throughout the first half the game would go into half time at 1-0 with Georges River Thistle having the advantage.
However, the second half saw East Bankstown come out looking the better of the two sides as they found their equaliser in the 51st minute of the match with East Bankstown’s captain and prolific striker Chiara Nohra finding the back of the net.
Not too long after finding the equaliser it was East Bankstown hitting the back of the net once again as Easts number 11 Bianca Estephen made it 2-1 in the 57th minute.
Although, both sides continued to search for a goal as Thistle looked for an equaliser and East Bankstown looked for a 2-goal advantage however, the game would end 2-1 with East Bankstown getting the win.
Revesby Workers White 1-1 Birrong Sports
Revesby Workers White and Birrong sports couldn’t be separated as they split the points after the game ended as a 1-1 draw.
Although Revesby Workers White made the step up to the Bankstown’s top ladies competition in 2023, they looked to be a side that may be an underdog in the competition this year as they split the points with 2022 Grand Finalists Birrong Sports.
The game looked very tightly contested in the first half as the Workers looked to have the better of the chances, however, it looked like we would go into the half time at 0-0 before the Workers struck late into the half.
In the 41st minute of the match, Revesby Workers White number 11, Karen Bennett found the back of the net to give her side a 1-0 advantage going into half time.
In the second half, Birrong Sports looked to come out revitalised as they pushed to find and equaliser.
It wasn’t until the 62nd minute of the match when Birrong Sports Cailtan Last found herself with a chance to score as she found the back of Louise Cousins goal to bring her side back into the match as the scores evened up to 1-1.
Both sides looked to create chances at both ends as they looked to find the winner, however, they both failed to find the back of the net with Birrong and Revesby splitting the points in round 1.
East Bankstown Yellow 1-8 Revesby Workers Maroon
Revesby Workers Maroon defeated newly promoted East Bankstown Yellow 8-1 in a tale of two halves as easts young squad looked to lack experience as they find their feet in the UWPL competition.
The first half saw the Workers dominate possession with a lot of the ball however they struggled to create cut chances due to a focused East Bankstown’s defence.
East Bankstown’s goalkeeper Ella Mitchell looked strong as she made important saves to keep her side in the game and it looked the scores would go into halftime level at 0-0 before the Workers Marissa Tsimboukis found the back of the net to make it 1-0 going into half time.
The second half Revesby Workers came out firing as East Bankstown began to look fatigued and it was in the 56th minute when Revesby Workers attacker Mya Donnelly gave her side 2-0 advantage.
It didn’t take long before the Workers attacker Marianna Konidaris made it 3-0 in the 60th minute followed by Konidaris making it a brace for herself in the 67th minute of the match and making it 4-0 to the workers.
Revesby Workers continued to make chances for themselves as Donnelly found her own brace in the 73rd minute of the match followed by her hattrick in the 87th minute.
East Bankstown would score a consolation goal in the 90th minute of the match as Kamley Ibrahim found the back of the net.
However, Workers Mya Donnelly would score her 4th goal of the match in injury time before Marianna Konidaris made it a hattrick for herself a minute later to make it a 8-1 victory to Revesby Workers.
