A brace by 24/25 Emerging Jet Award Winner Layla Sharpe, alongside an own goal and a strike each by Alexis Collins and Marni Duggan secured a win for the Girls Youth Team over an unbeaten Mt Druitt Town Rangers team.
The girls opened the scoring inside two minutes through the winner of the 24/25 Emerging Jet award, Layla Sharpe. Chloe Walandouw found the feet of Alexis Collins, who had dropped in deep. Collins spun away from her defender before playing in Layla Sharpe, who darted in behind the defence before poking the ball past the onrushing Mt Druitt custodian.
Mt Druitt would pull one back for themselves in the 13th minute. Galea took a touch on the edge of the box before finding the top corner from just outside the box, levelling things up between the two sides. The Youth team fought back and yet again, Layla Sharpe was the difference. A Marni Duggan corner found Layla Sharpe at the front post. Layla flicked the ball with the outside of her boot past the defender and keeper, nestling neatly into the back of the net. 2-1 to the Jets 26 minutes in.
Ryan Campbell was forced to make a change 42 minutes in, with Sophie Howarth coming off after a collision with keeper Ally Boertje. Sophie made a brilliant last-ditch tackle to deny Mt Druitt a shot, but collided with Boertje in the process and was subsequently brought off. She was replaced by Julieanne Fox. The scores stayed at 2-1 until just after half-time, when Holly Dalrymple equalised with a tap-in.
It didn’t take long for the Youth team to grab another goal. A corner was half cleared by Mt Druitt. Marni Duggan got onto the ball before delivering it back into the box. On the way it took a deflection off of a Mt Druitt player, before bouncing over Krstanovska in net and crossing the line.
Almost straight from the kick-off, the girls were able to take possession and score again. Kate Heap took a quick throw-in, finding Driscoll who bounced away from her defender before driving and delivering a low cross to Marni Duggan, who smashed her effort in at the first time of asking. The girls led 4-2 over the unbeaten Mt Druitt with just over half an hour to go.
Mt Druitt continued to push, as they sought to reduce the deficit and try and recover something from the game, but it wasn’t to be. Alexis Collins put to rest any chance of Mt Druitt rescuing a point with a goal in the 88th minute. Claire Adams, who was brought on midway through the second half, got hold of a clearance from Layla Sharpe, receiving the ball on the edge of the box. She drove to the halfway line before beating a Mt Druitt defender and slicing through their defence with a perfect outside-the-foot pass which found the onrushing Alexis Collins. Mackenzie Preston-Poole was also making a run through, creating a 2 on 1, but Alexis took it herself. Her first effort was saved by the keeper, but Alexis made no error with the follow-up, as she rounded the keeper and smashed the ball into the empty net. 5-2, game over.
With the fifth goal, the result was sealed, as the Girls Youth secured a massive win over the previously unbeaten Mt Druitt. Head coach and Academy Director Ryan Campbell said,
“Overall, I was very happy with the performance of the girls and more specifically, the amount of young Newcastle girls that were in the starting lineup who have been through our complete academy system. Coming up against a previously undefeated team with many of our senior names not playing, our squad could have approached the game with a negative mindset, but they did the complete opposite. There were many great performances, however Layla Sharpe scoring her first two goals in 1st grade after moving from being a defensive midfielder to a striker this year was a definitive moment.”
Earlier in the day, the U23s went down 0-2 in a close match, also against Mt Druitt.
