A fifty-minute quadruple for Rebecca Kirkup and four fabulous assists from Tegan Riding capped off a comfortable five-one win in our opening game of the season.
Our Lionesses wasted no time in continuing last year’s form, playing Olympic off the park in an enthralling five-one victory at home.
After heading into the interval with a three-goal lead and a Rebecca Kirkup hattrick to thank, we continued to push in the second half with Amy Gunston scoring the fifth shortly after Rebecca Kirkup sealed her quadruple.
We started the game fast, with Kirkup tapping home the opener inside the opening two minutes, before adding her second from close range just five minutes later.
Kirkup slashed the ball into the top right corner, slapping the woodwork after a swift counter that began with her slipping Tegan Riding into space with an elegant outside-foot through ball before running onto Riding’s delicately weighted return pass.
On the brink of half-time, central defender Danielle Ward was shown her second yellow for dissent towards the referee, but our Lionesses played with immense composure to make their numerical disadvantage unnoticed as they powered on after the break.
Entering the second half with goals kindly donated by three Riding assists, Kirkup made it four after drilling the ball into the bottom right corner with a precise first time shot after a ravaging Riding run down the right flank saw her cutback fall into the goalscorers path.
With a fine example of defending from the front, young-gun Amy Gunston targeted an onrushing goalkeeper, bravely winning the ball before the shot-stopper and bolting into open space to slot home our fifth.
We were unfortunate to lose our Clean Sheet in the final five minutes after a defensive lapse saw Olympic defender Faith Stephenson force the ball home inside of a busy eighteen-yard box.
Speaking after the victory, Head Coach Rob Askew shared his views of his side’s performance.
“I’m delighted”, Askew said. “I think it was a magnificent performance from go-to-woe, right up until we got [Danielle] sent off I thought we were just very aggressive, our press was effective, we kept the balls in the right moments, and I loved how ruthless and efficient we were with our finish.
“[Rebecca] is a great player, she always scores when she goes on. She was super clinical tonight, and it was a magnificent performance, and she rightly got the three points.
“In terms of the way we defended, and we defended very resolutely in that second half, in terms of the way we defended it was worthy of a Clean Sheet.”
We travel away for our first Kappa Cup game of the season, heading over to Elder Oval to take on Annerley FC this Wednesday night.
MATCH DETAILS
Women’s NPL Queensland 2022 Round #1
Lions FC vs Olympic FC
Friday, 8th April
KO: 8:15pm
Lions Stadium, Richlands
LIONS FC 5
OLYMPIC FC 1
HT: 3-0
