The Palerang United women took on second placed Belnorth and a tight even contest was played out. Palerang United had just the one substitute with injury and illness taking out 3 players even before the whistle blew to start the game. The Ladies are starting to gel well as a team and some patient defending is starting to win them some more ball in the game. 

Belnorth started well and applied a fair bit of pressure on the Palerang United defence, but Matilda Corby had the back line working like clockwork breaking down each attack on goal. Belnorth have the best attack in the competition averaging more than 4 goals a game but Palerang United were determined to keep them out and some excellent defending from Julie Osarek, Tamara Roberts and Kaylah Jullienne certainly frustrated their attack. Callie Bolitho and Neridah McMinn started to dominate the midfield around 15 minutes into the game which saw some excellent opportunities on the Belnorth goal for both Lauren Turner and Lauren Campbell up front. Lauren Bullman and Leith Collard covered a lot of territory in the midfield out wide and Jo Park was applying so much pressure on the Belnorth midfield that they struggled to string more than three passes together. 

Halftime came and went and Jaye Coble led the way in defence thwarting early chances on goal from the Belnorth attack. Palerang United certainly put the wind up the Belnorth defence also with some excellent corner kicks from Matilda Corby. 

Time was starting to run out for either team to take the advantage in the game until Jo Park was moved into the front line. The extra pressure she created on the Belnorth defence saw the first goal eventuate. Jo has never played before this season and she has improved with each game, so everyone involved in the team was so excited for her as she sprinted past the Belnorth defence and beat the goal keeper to the ball in the goal box to poke the ball past the Belnorth keeper and into the back of the net. Jo’s sheer determination to compete for every ball scored her that goal and she cheered with delight realising that she had scored her first goal ever in a game. Belnorth were not happy but time was running out for them to get back into the game. 

With only a minute to go a free kick was given to Palerang United near the halfway line. Matilda Corby took the free kick and the ball was lobbed into the goal box and a swarm of Palerang United players pressed the Belnorth keeper who fumbled the ball and Julie Osarek scored to extend Palerang United’s lead. 

The Palerang United Women were ecstatic when the final whistle blew to end the game knowing that they had dug deep and played with great commitment and determination which was the difference in the end. Final score Palerang United 2 Belnorth 0. 

Fantastic win Ladies. Enjoy the Long Weekend off! 

Palerang United Men had the weekend off with a bye but will take on ANU Orange this coming Saturday at Braidwood. So come on down to the Rec ground and cheer the men on with kick off at 1pm.

PALERANG UNITED HAVE ANOTHER EXCELLENT WEEKEND OF RESULTS

Palerang United’s junior teams enjoyed another impressive weekend of results with the under 10s keeping their unbeaten run going winning 5-1. Our under 13 girls are also undefeated and flying high on top of the ladder beating their closest rival in their competition 5-1. 

Our under 15 boys won in a goal fest of a game 10-4 and our under 16 girls also won in a goal fest 9-2. Outstanding results and all players, coaches and parents involved deserve a pat on the back for their commitment to each team. No soccer next weekend due to the Long Weekend but well done kids!

PALERANG UNDER 15 MEN

By Nick Flatter

Palerang 10 vs. Burgmann 4

“Who would want to watch the FA Cup Final when you can watch the Palerang Under 15 Men’s side?” gleamed the manager of the team, Kylie Bunn. Another proud parent supporter said “forget Antiques Roadshow, I’d watch these guys any day if they were on TV.” Even the sister of one of the players, Ellie Bunn said, “Gee, they play really well as a team.” 15 players made the trip to Canberra to play. 

Lochie put up his hand to play in goals for the first half and it looked like he was born to be a goal keeper. A goal keeper needs to be confident, position himself and his defenders against the opposition and Lochie showed all these attributes. His defenders, Monte, Tristan, Adrian, Izaac, Romney and Declan all assisted with a great defensive effort in the first half.

If your defence is sound and strong, openings occur in the midfield and up front, and this is what happened. The role of the midfield player is to assist both defenders and forwards. Our midfield players Gus, Harry J, Callum, Rhys and Ben were everywhere in the first half offloading good balls to our forwards Tim, Keiran and Harry F. We went to the half time break leading 8-1.

As you could imagine, confidence was high and at the start of the second half it seemed every player was trying to line up and score. We lost concentration and before we knew it, Bergmann got a couple back. This woke us up and we finished the match strongly.

Well played lads, the playing track was a bit bumpy, but you are thinking about playing the easy ball rather than taking on the opposition in tight situations. This lead to another spectator saying at the end of the game, “I don’t care how cold it was watching the match today, these players have improved amazingly in such a short space of time and I can’t wait for the next match.” 

Goal scorers were Keiran 5, Tim 2 and 1 each from Harry J, Gus and a right foot screamer from Callum.

The Braidwood Soccer Club raffle was drawn on Saturday the 27th of May after the Under 16 Palerang girls game in Braidwood at the rec ground. Congratulations to the following raffle winners:

1st – Cheyanne Whitmore, 2nd – Clay Williams, 3rd – Wendy Hart, 4th – G Kendall.

Thank you to everyone who supported the club through the raffle and thanks to Brad Carey for organising and running the raffle for the Braidwood Soccer Club.