DESPITE A PROMISING COMEBACK EARLY IN THE SECOND HALF, THE VISITORS PERSEVERED AT LUXURY PAINTS STADIUM
Tegan Riding made her return, helping our Lions Women come from two goals down on a rainy Saturday night in an eventual 4-3 defeat.
Gold Coast United brought the game to our Lionesses, catching us early on and squeezing home an opening goal at the near post. We responded to the pressure quickly, with Amy Gunston drawing level after rushing onto a clinical Meaghan McElligott through-ball before lifting the ball elegantly over the keeper.
Despite the moment of parity, our goal was quickly made redundant as Gold Coast United were awarded a penalty to reclaim the lead. Momo Hayashi made no mistake from the spot, despite a great effort from Emily Clark to get her hands on it.
Tara O’Keeffe came closest to equalising, arriving late at the back post and forcing a reactive save with her downward header. Minutes before the half-time whistle, Bronte Rose beat Emily Clark to the ball, sliding in to sweep the ball past Clark and into the back of the net.
We looked set to go in the break two goals down, but Meaghan McElligott shortened our sentence after rounding the keeper deftly and forcing a goal back in our favour. At the restart, Tegan Riding returned to the pitch, making an immediate impact by pulling us level. Pivoting on the edge of the box, Riding sent a rocket at the keeper that beat her across the line to level the score.
With resilience in the rain, our Lions pushed for a breakthrough goal, but a defensive mistake fifteen minutes from full-time condemned us to defeat. We threw everything at the visitors across the final ten minutes but were unable to equalise.
While we haven’t started this season as strongly as we had hoped, we are proud of the teams effort, and we will show our true colours in the coming weeks.
MATCH DETAILS
NPL Women 2024 Round #3
Lions FC 3 – 4 Gold Coast United
Luxury Paints Stadium, Richlands
NEXT MATCH
NPL Women 2024 Round #4
Lions FC vs. Mitchelton
Teralba Park, Everton Park