Esther Park saw Barkerettes (fifth) take on bottom-side Skye on Friday night. Barkers were in hot form, unbeaten in four games. Skye had only one win to their name, but that was against Barkers. Also, Skye had the dubious distinction of having received all three red cards in this league. This was going to be interesting. Keeper Ash Fraraccio was making her 150th senior appearance.
The player of the moment was called upon to make a double save early on, as Skye began to stretch the Barkers’ defence. Then calamity – Skye scored – 1-0. But no, the linesman had flagged offside and Barkers could breathe again.
Barkers’ first real threat came on seven minutes when the ball was cut back from the left and allowed to run through to Emily Stokes, who shot wide. Predictably, the game was scrappy and physical, punctuated by fouls and players going to ground.
On 23 minutes a Skye forward ran down the right and shot just past the far post, too close for comfort. Barkers were inexplicably making the bottom side look good. Four minutes later, Barkers sent the ball in from the left to Amy D’Ortenzio. She turned and shot, but keeper Cadence Vakacavu had it covered. Then an identical move saw Charlotte Martin hit a good first-time shot just over. Half-time 0-0 with Skye more interested in playing the man than the ball.
The second half was similar to last week’s second half at Endeavour, in that Barkers mounted attack after attack, occasionally allowing Skye to break forward to no effect. Eight minutes in, Martin reached the byline and cut the ball back, but Vakacavu somehow scrambled the ball to safety.
Barkers were piling on the pressure, and on the hour, Alysha Barrueto hit a low shot wide, before a cross from the left saw a D’Ortenzio shot saved. Then on 68 minutes, Alizah Jones did well to force Skye into conceding a corner.
Martin hit the ball low towards the near post, and Kelly Butera volleyed the ball home through a crowd of players to put Barkers 1-0 up. A minute later, Martin was at it again. Another good corner from the right found D’Ortenzio, whose shot was cleared off the line. Then Martin again, this time her corner saw Butera shoot wide.
The last five minutes saw a cross from the left leading to a shot by Jones. Then, a corner from the left saw a Jones header (yes, really!) saved by the keeper. There were a couple of late challenges – one by Skye’s Amba Tennant on Barrueto, and another nasty one on Charlotte McCullough, that don’t belong on a football pitch. Full-time: Barkers 1-0 Skye.
There will be some sore Barkers after this match. The referee was too easy-going for this fixture, which demanded an official who could establish control early on before things got out of hand. As for Barkers, they continue to try to close the gap on the top four, and that’s 16 points from the last 21.
Next – the league leaders, Seaford, away from home.
