My match recap on ottawafuryfc.com
It was a surprisingly close affair between the Fury Women and K-W United yesterday at Keith Harris Stadium, as Fury FC dominated the second half but took until the 85th minute to put K-dub away for good, when Lydia Hastings tapped home Kristy Moore’s rebound.
This will be a two-sided recap, one angle for the Fury Women and one for K-W United, because why not.
The Fury Angle
- Second consecutive poor start for Dom Oliveri’s squad.
- Arin Gilliland was monstrous, especially in the second half. Her 23rd minute goal was an incredible individual effort.
- Caught up-field a number of times by K-W, which resulted in surprising odd-man rushes for the visitors.
- Jill McVicker made a great, albeit meaningless, diving penalty stop late in injury time.
- Despite Gilliland’s goal, it was a very lacklustre first half for the Fury Women.
Coach’s Perspective (with Dom Oliveri)
“Dom, a 2-0 victory for your squad today but definitely a lot of things to work on..”
“Again, we didn’t start very well. It was a poor first forty-five minutes, I felt we were chasing things we didn’t have to. We were marginally better in the second half, but overall it wasn’t good enough for us, to be honest. We apologize to the fans who paid good money to come and watch us play today- we weren’t nearly good enough, and we know we have to be better.”
“Arin Gilliland put in her second consecutive Player-of-the-Match performance- describe how key she was for your side today.”
“Arin was fantastic today, best performer by far. One of the only players that turned up to play today, for us. Definitely a handful, she could’ve had three or four on her own. I don’t think we’d have three points without Gilli’s performance today.”
“You head down to face K-dub next weekend- what has to improve?”
“Well we just have to keep working. As a staff, we have to keep preparing the players- but at the end of the day, not starting well is on the players. That’s not on us as a staff. We just have to figure it out as a group, together, because we’ve certainly had two good second halves. We just can’t keep giving teams forty-five minute headstarts.”
The K-W Angle
- Maxine Murchie was strong on the ball on the left flank, and had some good link-ups with Courtney Conrad up front.
- ‘Keeper Alison Gondosch had a second half for the ages, keeping the score respectable while turning aside ten Fury FC shots.
- Defense was essentially shredded by Ottawa, will have to find a way to shut them down if they want a result next weekend at home.
Coach’s Perspective (with Stuart Neely)
“A tough 2-nil defeat for your squad today, what let you down?”
“Well when you’re playing a side like Ottawa Fury, they’re a classy squad, they move the ball well, they’re well-coached- we knew we were always going to be up against it. Today we needed a little more tactical awareness from ourselves, on the field, and giving that second effort on loose balls to close plays down. I felt we might’ve been a bit unlucky to not get a break in the first half, but good teams find ways to win, and the Fury came on inspired in the second half. We made three changes to play three at the back and push players forward, and when you do that you’re risking a counter-attack goal if you take that chance. On the day, we were certainly beaten by a superior squad, that’s going to be in contention for the league title.”
“Maxine Murchie moved all over the pitch today- where do you like her best on the pitch?”
“She came to play today, floated in off the wings especially. We do give her a bit of free reign to do that. She did a job for us, but eventually she ran out of gas a bit. We just didn’t link up with our forward players today very well, and we were just a bit too respectful of the Fury. When you’re respectful of quality, the quality will tend to hurt you.”
“Any positives to take out of today’s match?”
“Absolutely! I thought we kept at it, and we did create a number of opportunities in the second half to get back into the match and just couldn’t take them. I liked the spirit of the team. You always want to put your best foot forward for the ninety, but today we just didn’t at times. We got a late opportunity from what I thought was honestly a dubious penalty, you know I thought the Fury defender made a great defensive tackle, but what can you do? We had some positive opportunities to get on the scoreboard, and the work rate was good too.
“Final question, how key was your ‘keeper today? Ten stops!”
“The second half was definitely something for Alison (Gondosch) to be proud of. We never hang our hat on it, but we want those saves all the time, and the first goal we felt was an all-around weak goal defensively. We spoke about the first goal at halftime, and we pointed the blame on the back four and the goalkeepers. Top honours to Alison in the second half, she really came out to play today.”
The two sides will do battle again next Saturday down south, as the Fury Women will look to improve to 3-0-0 in their young W-League season, whilst K-W United will look to pick up their second victory of the campaign.
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