There were so many reasons this game could have gone wrong for Barkerettes. The weather was cold and blustery. The spine was ripped out of the team before kick-off, with injury and illness ruling out Ash Fraraccio, Alexis Sketchley and Amy D’Ortenzio. They had a debut goalkeeper who had, minutes ago, been on the receiving end of a big scoreline. They had not even scored a goal in the last four games.
Yes there were plenty of excuses available as bottom-of-the-ladder Barkers hosted Malvern (eighth). None of this, though, was evident at the start, as Barkers began brightly. On seven minutes, the first of many excellent corners from the right by Charlotte Martin saw Eleanor Ridley have a shot deflected wide.
The first test of keeper Ashley Barrueto’s confidence came on 14 minutes, when a shot straight at her was comfortably held. Five minutes later, Malvern’s Luisa Sanchez, scorer of the winner at Kooyong Park last season, fired a shot in. Again, Barrueto was untroubled.
Barkers’ best chance of the half came on 23 minutes, when a run down the left saw a cross to Martin, whose shot scraped the outside of the post. Then a big scare as a Malvern forward was put through with only Barrueto to beat, but she was alert, got to the ball first and booted it clear.
Four minutes before the break, Malvern won a free-kick on the 18 yard line. Yari Aguado drove the ball into the Barkers’ wall, then she hit the rebound back towards goal, but Barrueto had it covered. In a game of few chances, the last word of the half fell to Miranda Jackson, whose shot was saved by Malvern keeper Helen Carroll. Half-time 0-0.
The second half saw Barkers work very hard, having the lion’s share of the territory. Charlotte McCullough, whose first touch at times was sublime, almost broke free on 54 minutes, but was offside. Two minutes later, a Martin corner from the right almost saw Ridley score a blinder, but her volley went over.
Then with 19 minutes to go, the Malvern defence, which had been pretty solid all night, went to sleep as the ball pinged around the six-yard box. Martin poked the ball through the hesitant defenders, and it trickled into the far side of the net to give Barkers the lead.
Tails up, Barkers kept attacking. With five minutes to go, Emily Stokes flew down the left and put the ball on a plate for Martin. However, Carroll somehow made a great point-blank save. In the last few minutes it was the Barkers defence in panic mode but they held out for their first league win of the season.
This was a gripping game between two sides still coming to terms with the step up from State 3 to State 2. From my limited viewpoint it was clear that, in the Malvern defence, left-back Adele Nicolas and centre-half Suanne Lee knew exactly what they were doing and would be no pushovers. Barkers, though, worked their socks off. Their defence was also sound, with Holly White coming on in leaps and bounds. This may be the game that kick-starts the Barkerettes’ season.
