By Peter Stephenson
The table-topping Barkerettes made the trip to a sunny Mornington Peninsula to face mid-table Baxter, in round 9 of State 3S.
Although they had won their last six, Barkerettes needed to keep winning to put the pressure on Gippsland United, who were two points behind with a game in hand.
If Shakespeare were writing this report he would entitle it Much Ado About Nothing, as Baxter had a lot of possession early on without doing anything with it.
Alexis Sketchley calmed everything down at the back.
Fellow defender Jordyn Clausen, meanwhile, did a good man-marking job on Baxter’s best player. Keeper Ashleigh Fraraccio was underemployed due to the impotent Baxter attack.
Up front, Lisa Walsh sportingly missed a couple of chances to keep the game interesting, then Kelly Butera put a free-kick over the bar.
Once Barkers got going, they played some rather neat football and created a number of chances.
A free-kick on the half-hour saw Walsh hit the crossbar.
Eventually, the deadlock was broken 4 minutes before the break when a misplaced Baxter pass in their own half saw the ball go straight to Walsh.
She hit a lovely first-time shot past the keeper to put Barkers 1-0 up.
Just before the break, Amy D’Ortenzio had a shot blocked by the keeper, but nobody followed up. Half-time: Baxter 0-1 Mooroolbark.
A few minutes into the second half, Alizah Jones squared the ball to Butera.
Our newly-discovered scoring sensation belted a cracking shot beyond the keeper to make it 2-0. Then Butera put D’Ortenzio through but the shot went wide.
On 55 minutes, a Barkers corner on the left came out to Christina Vemis, who hit a shot over the bar.
Walsh and D’Ortenzio had further chances to add to the score, but they were spurned and Barkerettes were, in the end, comfortable winners.
Full-time: Baxter 0-2 Mooroolbark.
Barkerettes remain two points clear of Gippsland, who have that game in hand, and at the halfway mark the league is developing into a two-horse race.
Next for Barkerettes is a home game against cellar-dwellers Mornington.
