When Southern United faced off against Box Hill last week in Mornington, it was another opportunity to earn some points which, up to this point, had been hard to come by in 2016.
And the trend looked likely to continue after Kristina Hall’s 22nd minute goal saw the hosts face another early deficit.
Yet they held off against the wind to preserve the 0-1 scoreline, and shortly after the break pounced to equalise when Saphri Lines’ speculative effort from distance was helped into the back of the net by the strong breeze.
From there Southern had renewed confidence and many chances to win, but a combination of near misses and Box Hill keeper Emily Shields thwarted their efforts.
While it wasn’t a first win of the season, it was a point to double the side’s tally and give hope that brighter times are on the horizon.
“We can only improve as a team. We had one point and now to get two points I guess that’s an improvement,” Southern striker Candela Ferreyra Bas said.
“Last time we played Box Hill we didn’t get any points, so to get one is obviously an improvement.”
She credits her teammates’ unwillingness to give up and remain positive as a catalyst for not capitulating after conceding first.
“Honestly, [the aim was] just to try and do our best and get the goal back and work as a team and keep pushing, and because we had the wind working with us we just needed to get goals,” she said.
“[We wanted to] try to play to feet, not just lobbing it, because we were all knackered from the first half because we were playing against the wind and it was so hard to play against the wind so we were just trying to play to feet and not give the ball away to the keeper.”
Ferreyra Bas has been one of the side’s standout performers with a handful of goals to often give her side a glimmer of hope in games this season.
While she had a bright performance and was threatening up front, creating a couple of key chances to score, but the ball just wouldn’t stick in the back of the net
On another day the chances would have put away with a bit more luck, but in a reflection of the season to date, it wasn’t meant to be on the day.
Ferreyra Bas remains optimistic she can continue playing a role for her team and is determined to score the goals to get them out of their early slump.
“I can only improve, I don’t know if it was the wind or me – probably me,” she conceded.
“Im a striker, so my job is to score for the team, so I can only get better I guess.”
Likewise, she is confident in the quality of her team’s playing and coaching stocks to continue working hard and finding a way up the NPLW table in 2016.
“We are training hard, were training three times a week like everyone else, but we are trying to cohort properly and try and play better,” she said.
“But we’ll get there, our points are coming.”
The next test is a difficult assignment as Southern come up against Bulleen Lions at Barro Stadium.
Feature image: Robin Smith/Mornington Soccer Club