The ODT Women's Premiership got underway this weekend with two stellar matches. Last year's top two sides Otago University Premiers and Dunedin Technical battled it out at the Turf whilst last year's third place finishers Roslyn Wakari hosted Mosgiel. Otago University Seconds had the bye and Queenstown and Green Island delayed their match until the 23rd May. 

Otago University Premiers 1 – 6 Dunedin Technical  

Last season’s League winners Dunedin Technical got their season off to a flying start with a 6-1 win over last year’s runners-up, Otago University Premiers. It was all square until the latter stages of the second half when Tech took the lead through a penalty scored by Chelsea Whittaker. Premiers managed to equalise quickly through Amy Hislop’s effort from the penalty spot.  Before the half-time whistle blew, Tech had snook in a pair of goals and Premiers were trailing by 3 goals to 1. 

Within 4 minutes of the restart, Premiers were 6-1 down and Tech were comfortably on their way to taking the three points home. Premiers coach Stuart Moffatt had several positives to take from the game and was particularly happy with Zoe Hislop’s debut, “she made a big impact from the bench, showing aggression and fierce combativeness in midfield.” Zoe is last year’s Golden Boot winner Amy Hislop’s twin sister.  

Tech’s coach Craig Johnstone was pleased with his team’s performance and especially with his debutants Nieve Collin and Margarida Dias who scored a brace each, and his player of the day, Tab Seaton. Johnstone took the opportunity to blood some new players towards the end of the Varsity encounter and was impressed with how they went. Tech have a bye next week and should be bolstered by the return of Shontelle Smith for their next match against Roslyn Wakari. 

Rosyln Wakari 11 - 0 Mosgiel  

In the other WPS fixture, last season’s third placed team Roslyn Wakari, took on last season’s sixth place finishers Mosgiel, at Ellis Park. It was a landslide victory for the home side as they slotted eleven goals past Mosgiel’s defence. Kate Macbeth opened the scoring for Roslyn after connecting with Renee Bacon’s cross into the box. Bacon was second on Roslyn’s scoresheet after she ran rings around Mosgiel’s keeper to double the lead. The influential Bacon finished with a quintet of goals whilst the goal of the game was undoubtedly Juliette Lucas’ 35-40 yard effort which gave her a hat-trick. Roslyn’s other goalscorers included debutant Saffie Hare and striker Paige Julian.  

Roslyn ran out four debutants (Alex Maffey, Saffie Hare, Kate Johnston & Neve Darlington) and the Roslyn faithful were especially pleased to see Alex Maffey make her debut as the 15 year-old has come up through the juniors. There was a recognisable face amongst Roslyn’s starting 11 with former Football Fern Zoe Miller in the mix. Roslyn Coach Hamish Philip was over the moon with his team’s performance and chooses Renee Bacon as his player of the match. 

Philip had praise for his opposite coach Malcolm Roberts in what was his first game in charge of Mosgiel, “Malcolm was great with his team, he was always positive on the sidelines. He’s all about the development of football and is a massive credit to Mosgiel”. 

After his first game at the helm, Roberts reflected that the score line didn’t reflect the effort his team put in and was proud of them for “never letting their heads go down”. He praised Bacon, citing her brilliance throughout the match and talked of his disappointment of losing defensive midfielder Kayla Marshall through a calf injury and centre back Grace Bishop to a knee injury. He is looking forward to his side being boosted by the return of several attacking players in the form of Branwen Jones and Raegan Potter and hopes for to see Marshall and Bishop back in the fold for their next match away to Queenstown.  

Be sure to catch Footy Chat later this week as we preview Round 2 of the WPS and reflect on the first two fixtures. You can watch last week's episode here.

Article added: Sunday 21 March 2021