Newcastle Olympic showed they were far from a one-woman team with a dominant 5-1 win over Warners Bay without their star player in the opening round of Herald Women's Premier League.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Jemma House, last year's WPL player of the year and leading scorer, is out until her W-League commitments with the Newcastle Jets end but her absence was anything but glaring at Darling Street Oval on Saturday.
Olympic beat the Panthers 3-2 in a thrilling grand final last year but the rematch was one-sided in the opening period with the hosts taking a 4-0 lead into the break after a clinical first-half effort.
New recruits Jade McAtamney and Keea Parrish showed they will be key assets with stand-out performances and goals in their first outings in Olympic colours. McAtamney opened the scoring around the 10-minute mark with a long-range effort.
Parrish made it 2-0 10 minutes later when she drove towards the byline on the right then chipped a shot into the goalmouth which found the back of the net after a Warners Bay miscommunication on the goal line.
Parrish and McAtamney both had a foot in the third goal, which was a long-range, curling shot from midfielder Keely Gawthrop in the 25th. Laura Hall scored around the 30th with a well-timed volley from the edge of the box after McAtamney's on-target corner strike was headed off the goal line by Panthers defender Kristy Martin.
Warners Bay came of the sheds firing and Elodie Dagg almost scored from the restart. Her close-range effort was saved at point-blank range by Olympic shot-stopper Natalie Wiseman.
Wiseman, however, could not deny Dagg from the spot in the 75th. A penalty was awarded when the Olympic goalkeeper felled Mattiese Loretan in the box while also clearing the ball. Olympic substitute Sophie Walmsley scored late.
After such a solid opening effort, it appears Olympic coach Harmonie Attwill is going to have some selection headaches when House returns. But it was a dilemma she looked forward to.
"That's good," Attwill said. "That competition makes players stand out and work harder."
The Olympic mentor was happy to see the work of pre-season coming off.
"I thought we kept the ball really well," Attwill said. "I thought we created a lot and took our opportunities, which was good. For us it was more about everything we've been working on in pre-season, we saw that. Great combinations in the front third and we saw a really strong defensive structure and unit."
Warners Bay coach Craig Atkins described it as a game of two halves.
"At half-time I just told the girls to stay positive and gave them two options - show some character, play the way we play or things will get ugly," Atkins said.
"They did option one which was fantastic and I thought we were way better in the second half."
Former Jets W-League player Ash Brodigan scored a hat-trick as Broadmeadow beat newcomers Maitland 5-2 at Cooks Square Park on Sunday. Magic, who face Olympic in round two, took a 4-1 lead to the break. They had scored three goals before Maitland got one back through Kaitlin Radstaak from the spot. Ainsley Childs scored for the Magpies early in the second half to close the gap to 4-2 before Magic found another. Chelsea Lucas and midfielder Bella Carlisle also got on the scoresheet for Broadmeadow.
Ella Spicer scored in the first half and Kiarra Lewis in the second as Adamstown beat New Lambton 2-0 at No.2 Sportsground on Saturday. The match between Charlestown Azzurri and Mid Coast set down for Lisle Carr Oval on Saturday was postponed.