Sandringham Soccer Club have kept their slim finals hopes alive, defeating South Yarra 4-0 at Fawkner Park on Sunday.
On a day where the pitch was as inconsistent as the consecutively sunny and rainy weather, Emma Runnalls scored a double, while Annabelle Gibney and Emma Robers added singles to the tally.
The bottom placed hosts wouldn’t be too disappointed with the result, putting on a decent showing, but just couldn’t keep the visitors at bay over the 90 minutes.
Gibney was threatening from the outset, hitting the first shot in anger in the opening seconds of the contest, but ‘keeper Ashleigh Bellman held the ball comfortably.
Runnalls also showed a sign of things to come, rising for a couple of headers that missed just wide.
Up the other end, Eliza Mealin crossed in a dangerous ball that skidded around on the wet surface, before Sandringham’s defenders cleared their lines with an air of panic.
Sandringham started working some combinations up front, with Emma Robers cutting in from wide, passing to Gibney who found Eliza Gleadall for a shot that flew high and wide.
Yarra’s Katherine Foster found herself busy at both ends of the pitch, hitting a shot over the bar, before going up the other end and heading away a goalbound Gibney corner kick.
The deadlock was broken in the 36th minute by Gibney, who made no mistake with the low finish after being played through on goal by Nicola Westwood.
Left-back Emma Gunn was also contributing in defence and attack, finding both Gleadall and Lucy Kapusta for efforts that didn’t trouble Bellman.
The visitors’ momentum kept building after the break, scoring in the 57th minute via Runnalls from point blank range, nodding in Westwood’s pinpoint cross.
The striker then missed the opportunity for another goal from the exact same position, somehow heading a cross high over the bar.
Sandringham’s third goal came via a neat passage of play starting from Alina Kapusta at the back, going through Gibney and ending with Robers, who finished with aplomb.
Substitute Lily O’Brien then assisted the fourth and final goal, slipping through Runnalls for a clinical finish at the far post.
Westwood, so often the provider on the day, had the opportunity to get on the scoresheet herself, but her volley from Robers’ cross just missed wide.
South Yarra had a chance towards the end to score a consolation, but Mealin’s strike bounced past the post.
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South Yarra SC 0 defeated by Sandringham SC 4 (Gibney 36′, Runnalls 56′ 78′, Robers 73′) at Fawkner Park
South Yarra SC*: 1. Ashleigh BELLMAN (GK), 2. Hayley WALKINSHAW, 3. Samantha TIGHE, 4. Jennifer WESTHAGEN, 5. Megan LORKIN, 6. Priscilla RIBAS, 7. Hannah CHARMAN, 8. Katherine FOSTER, 9. Eliza MEALIN, 10, Marcela MARQUES, 12. Gretel TEMPLETON
Substitute(s): 22. Lesley KING, 13. Ashley LEDOUX, 14. Saraid MITTEN, 15. Lauren HUGHES, 32. Sharon WALSH
*Names and corresponding numbers as recorded on team-sheet
Sandringham SC: 21. Nikki COOK, 4. Emma ROBERS, 6. Steph PARTON, 8. Nicola WESTWOOD, 9. Emma RUNNALLS, 11. Lucy KAPUSTA, 12. Eliza GLEADELL, 5. Jaime BROWN, 30. Emma GUNN, 19. Annabelle GIBNEY, 13. Alina KAPUSTA
Unused Substitute(s): 16. Elisabeth ROBERS, 3. Lily O’BRIEN, 29. Irena TASESKI, 17. Nichola RHYDER