Bulleen Lions have brushed aside Eltham Redbacks in Round 3 of the 2014 Women’s State Knock Out Cup, defeating their State League 2 North/West opponents 7-0 under lights at David Barro Stadium on Monday night.
Entering the contest as the Sportsmart Women’s Premier League in form side, Bulleen were simply too good for the visitors, displaying their superiority and gulf in class.
Doubles from Emily Coppock and Dani Gudelj saw their side ease through 90 minutes with Elise Manassa, Tayla Mure and Alyssia Blewonski completing the rout.
Six minutes was all the hosts had to wait for their opener when full back Elise Manassa converted an Olivia Edwards corner, tapping the ball into the back of the next from close range.
Bulleen’s wingers were particularly lively in the opening stages of the game as both Alyssia Blewonski and Edwards found themselves in behind Elthams’s back four.
Despite going behind early, the visitors found a small interlude of possession and passing mid-way through the first half, appearing to have finally come to their own.
Utilising the interchange rule to effect, Eltham coach Nick Crinis opted for regular changes throughout the first 45 minutes.
Eltham’s best on ground Naomi Harris was lively off the wing pushing forward, getting through on goal on one occasion, only for Bulleen custodian Melissa Maizels to comfortably save her effort.
The Redbacks purple patch was short lived however, with Emily Coppock adding her first after a well worked move just short of the half hour mark.
Tayla Mure was the architect of that goal, winning the ball in midfielder and combing for a few passes forward, releasing Manassa down the wing who eventually linked up with Blewonski to set up Coppock for the finish.
And it was Coppock who soon completed her brace prior the interval.
Edwards was again the provider, dribbling her way into the box passed Eltham’s defence, teeing up Coppock for another tap in, concluding the half at 3-0.
Saving his changes until the second half, Bulleen coach Bobby McGuinness, injected more life into his side, introducing Lia Privitelli, Cindy Lay and Dani Gudelj into the contest.
Lay and Privitelli were combining particularly well for the hosts whilst Gudelj provided plenty of problems for Eltham.
Privitelli was influential in everything upon coming on, commencing an excellent solo run into the box before cutting the ball to Blewonski, who converted with an open goal at her mercy.
Gudelj then added her first goal only moments later, following up a powerful Blewonski strike after Jessica Tay initiated the play with a sublime ball out wide to Blewonski.
Holding her own in goals for the night, Eltham custodian and former Lion Alexandra Kite provided a rare highlight for her side with less than 15 minutes to go, puling off a fine one handed save diving to her right, denying Tay a goal of her own.
The keeper however could do nothing as Tayla Mure slotted home her sides sixth, combining well with Privitelli who was again instrumental upon entering the fray.
Bulleen then completed the scoreline with five minutes left as Privitelli provided the assist for Gudelj to capitalise on from close range, completing her brace in a thoroughly convincing performance.
Coming up against his old side, Bulleen coach Bobby McGuinness was pleased to have his girls create a lot of chances whilst getting game time into those on the fringes.
“We were hoping to make it as realistic as possible and keep our shape and play at our pace and I thought for a lot of the game we did that, but for other parts of it we certainly dropped our intensity a little but I thought the chances we created were great,” McGuinness said.
“Theres a lot of girls in and around our squad who haven’t had a great deal of game time who really need to keep the intensity levels high and I thought the girls who came in tonight did really well for us. Certainly I think the intensity level was as high if not higher when they were on then not.”
Team Line-ups:
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Scorers:
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