Football: Narrow Whanganui loss to Taradale in Women's Federation League

Stella Warner, right, had a lot of chasing to do on the fringes and then trying to create openings on attack in Whanganui's 1-0 loss to Taradale at Wembley Park on Saturday. Photos / Lewis Gardner

After the high octane attack of Moturoa AFC, Team Ritesh Whanganui found themselves back in familiar territory with a more gritty Women's Federation League encounter with Taradale AFC at Wembley Park on Sunday.

Unfortunately, despite a much improved defensive screen and better passing control, they could not execute up the front of the park against opposition who played good percentage football with long clearing kicks, leaving a sole first half goal by visiting striker Cara O'Neill the decisive play in the 1-0 loss.

Taradale, runnersup in both league and cup last season, brought a strong group of defenders who had the wood on Whanganui's attackers Vanya Apiata-Hodgkinson and Tessa Hunt in terms of speed and cutting off their angles, therefore mistakes invariably crept into the offensive touches and handling.

The visitors got a lot of mileage with long kick chases down into the far right touchline in the first half, and a number of them delivered powerful cross kicks towards the box, as well as trying long range goal attempts.

After the nightmare of facing Fernanda Toscani last weekend, Whanganui's young goal keeper Amy Simmers showed good composure and produced plenty of key stops to keep her side in the match, with coach Matt Calvert having rejigged his lineup as veteran defender Lisa Walker returned, while Sheena Menzies came off the bench to do some good work in the midfield.

Whanganui's wingers Stella Warner and Eva Thompson had strong games, until the latter came off not long after hitting her forehead from being brought down at high speed, and was not looking too well on the sideline.

Eva Thompson, left, had a strong match until suffering a head knock late in the second half.

Emma Wood also returned this week and tried to get something going on attack with Apiata-Hodgkinson and Hunt as the clock began to tick away, but the Taradale defenders made sure their goal keeper's workload stayed fairly light.

Warner, Hunt and Apiata-Hodgkinson put together a few nifty passing exchanges, but never enough to get an attacker in the open for long, with Whanganui often relying on Simmers' booming clearances over halfway to have a lottery chance at breaking through.

"Got back to where we should be. Just the final ball, weren't ruthless enough," said Calvert.

He felt the team had lifted after the heavy Moturoa defeat, and created an equal number of chances as Taradale, who likewise found the Whanganui defenders up to the task.

While a draw may have been a fair result, Whanganui's attack just didn't test Taradale enough, even into perhaps forcing a mistake.

"But if you don't score, you don't deserve a [competition] point," said Calvert.

"Got to work in their half, see how we can make it hard on defenders."

He was happy with how each team member played on the ball, while the movement was good to recover from their own half and get back up front.

It was Taradale's speedy recovery from defending their half which led to the game's only goal, as they regathered a long kick down in the corner, and then attackers worked back towards the goal in traffic to set a chance for O'Neill to make her strike through a narrow gap and score.

Thompson could likewise find open space in the first half, but passing lacked for some accuracy, being just out of her reach as she dashed repeatedly to try and keep the ball in play.

Defender Lilee Taylor, backed by Walker, produced a crucial save in Whanganui's box as the ball had ricocheted between defenders and attackers, leaving Simmers out of position.
Whanganui began finally getting some shots at goal late in the second quarter, but few caused the keeper concern.

The trend continued in the second half, with Taradale parking the bus when they needed to, ensuring they would keep their advantage to the final whistle.

Whanganui have their first away game this coming Sunday against Massey University, who travelled to New Plymouth for a 1-0 loss to table leaders Moturoa.