A Sarah Astbury corner which curled all the way into the Parkside net at the far post helped set Isaroos on the way to a 3-nil grand final win, claiming their second women's premiership on Friday night.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Astbury curled the corner all the way in about 10 minutes into the first half to open the scoring, her goal coming against the run of play after Parkside had started the stronger of the two sides.
Astbury's freakish goal sparked Isaroos into action and Laura Marsden would go close soon after forcing a good save out of Parkside keeper Sharradha Rolland.
An excellent through ball from Astbury put Marsden into space minutes later with Marsden setting up Lauren Nicholas who sprayed her shot wide.
Parkside were able to counter with a few shots on goal of their own but none were too much trouble for Isaroos keeper Christy Crossingham who kept a clean sheet. Right before halftime a long range shot from Astbury forced Rolland into action again, the Parkside keeper stopping the shot to keep the score at 1-nil.
The second half began with Isaroos Marsden resuming her battle with Parkside defender Nikki Charlton down the flank.Persistence and effort from the Parkside forwards earned them a free kick from a handball by Isaroos but Emma Jordison's shot sailed high.
A defensive lapse by Parkside around the 15 minute mark resulted in them going down 2-nil, when they allowed Isaroos skipper Astbury too much time on the ball, the skipper sizing up a long range shot which found the back of the net. Isaroos would put the match beyond doubt minutes later when Wendy Hamilton scored taking the score to 3-nil. Isaroos coach Brad Crossingham was thrilled to help steer the team to their second premiership.
"I'm very proud of them a lot of them are girls that won the first one with us about three years ago and now their back again with another trophy in the cabinet ," he said.
The coach was full of praise for his captain.
"They were great goals, they were game changers, at that point in the game it gives you the lift that helps you through the game and gives us the edge on the other side and I think she definitely did her part captaining the team, she definitely played a captains knock today," he said.
Crossingham said Isaroos defence was also crucial to defeating a strong Parkside team.
"That's what we have worked really hard on at training and over the whole season we knew that to match with Parkside because they've been the favourite team we had to defend them because they had the leading goal scorer, they were scoring classy goals all year.”
