By Peter Stephenson
Barkerettes (second) travelled to Chisholm United (seventh), hoping to stay ahead of Aspendale and Endeavour in the race for second spot and a chance of promotion via a playoff.
This was going to be trickier than it looked on paper, because United had given a good account of themselves at the Kennel, and were reportedly at full strength.
The first half saw attempts on goal from Kelly Butera (shot over the bar), Amy D’Ortenzio (header from a corner) and Lisa Walsh (almost had too much time to decide what to do with it).
At the other end, Barkers had a scare when a United corner led to a scramble in the six-yard box, but keeper Ashleigh Fraraccio managed to dive onto the ball. Half-time came with no goals scored. Chisholm were on top early on, but Barkers took over and could have been a couple of goals up at the break.
The second half was frustrating. Six minutes in, D’Ortenzio shot over, but on 53 minutes, United won a corner on the left. It was hit to the far post and was scrambled over the line by Alexandria Ekonomopoulos for the opening goal. This emboldened the hosts, who then hit the post in a let-off for Barkers.
Just on the hour, Chisholm got very lucky indeed. An absolute hit-and-hope by Sophie Marinis from 30 yards sailed over everyone to enter the net to make it 2-0 – Marinis wasn’t even looking at the goal when she hit it. Oh well, that’s football.
Barkers’ heads could have dropped, but they didn’t.
They tried hard but couldn’t unlock the Chisholm defence. Then in stoppage time, Courtney Wipperfurth played D’Ortenzio through, and the Goal Machine kept a cool head and stuck the ball wide of the keeper to halve the deficit to 2-1. Too little, too late though, on a frustrating evening.
One game to go, and Barkers, Endeavour and Aspendale are all still in the play-off hunt.
Endeavour beat Beaumaris 6-0, while Aspendale lost 3-4 at Gippsland United.
The top four now reads: Gippsland 46 pts, Endeavour 37, Mooroolbark 36, Aspendale 35. Next week, Barkers host Baxter, while Endeavour and Aspendale play each other. For Barkers to snatch second, they need to win, and hope Endeavour lose or draw.
