W-League Champions Sydney FC continue their strong preseason campaign with a 4-2 win over Arrive Alive Premier League title holders Illawarra Stingrays over the weekend.
Sydney FC-s W League season preparation continued last weekend when they renewed their rivalry with Arrive Alive Premier League champs Illawarra Stingrays at the Hills Sports Centre.
Sydney FC was still without a number of stars with players such as Kylie Ledbrook, Heather Garriock and Sara Walsh still unavailable through either injury or work commitments. However, the Sky Blues were still able to field a classy side for this pre season clash.
Fresh from a handy 2-1 win over Newcastle Jets the previous weekend the W League champions started brightly. Within the first ten minutes the Sky Blues had grabbed the lead through a well taken goal from Matildas striker Leena Khamis.
The Stingrays may have been on the back foot on the scoreboard but they created a few chances of their own as both side attempted to play some open football. Whilst Illawarra couldn-t manage to find the back of the net at this stage they were managing to keep the Sydney FC attack at bay. Khamis-s goal proved the only difference between the two sides at the half time break.
After a half time rev up from Coach Alen Stajic the Sydney FC girls lifted a gear at the beginning of the second half. After a number of opportunities went begging that girl Leena Khamis was on hand again with a stylish header to extend Sydney-s advantage to 2-0.
It didn-t take long for Sydney to go further in front after a fine run by Sydney-s Caitlin Foord saw the talented youngster square the ball to provide Khamis with a tap in for her third goal of the match.
Things were now looking bleak for the Illawarra side but, like the championship side they are, they bounced back with a great ball providing striker Ash Connor with the chance to turn her defender before slotting away a quality finish.
Sydney FC replied with a blistering shot from 20 metres by Nicole Bolger bursting through the Illawarra keeper-s hands to find the back of the net and give Sydney a 4-1 lead.
The Stingrays weren-t done with though with some bright lead up play leading to replacement Samantha Muscat scoring a well taken goal to bring the scoreline back to a respectable 4-2. This proved to be the final score in what was an entertaining match.
Illawarra will now visit Newcastle this week for a match up with W League side Newcastle Jets. The girls from the South Coast certainly love their football, having travelled to Adelaide last week in what has been an extended season for this talented side.
Sydney FC will now concentrate on working towards their season opener with Brisbane Roar as a number of the W League squad are on duty with the Matildas at the Peace Queen Cup Tournament in Korea before a much anticipated international friendly with Germany in Wolfsburg. We wish all the Sydney FC players who are part of the Matildas squad the best of luck in what will be a busy lead up to the FIFA Women-s World Cup in Germany in 2011.
