A cold Friday night at the Kennel saw Barkerettes (sixth) host Brunswick Zebras (ninth). Zebras had humbled us 4-0 at their place, but since then, Barkers had hit a rich vein of form. The grass pitch was waterlogged, so the game was played on the synthetic pitch.
Barkers took control early on. On five minutes, Hannah Turnbull sent Laelah Gundry down the left, she crossed, and it ran through to Emily Stokes, who hit a first-time shot over. Then Stokes hit a good first-time ball into Amy D’Ortenzio, but she was offside.
Zebras’ first threat was on 13 minutes, when a tame shot from outside the box from Katie Gilfillan gave keeper Ash Fraraccio no trouble.
This season, Barkerettes have made heavy weather of scoring, but you wouldn’t know it on this occasion. On 18 minutes, Fraraccio cleared the ball to Jones in midfield, she played a neat one-two with D’Ortenzio and ran clear from halfway to slot the ball home for an exhilarating opener – 1-0.
Two minutes later, a throw on the left from Turnbull found Gundry. She crossed the ball in, it was cleared back out to her, and she beat keeper Julia Morris at her near post with a precise shot for her first Barkers goal and 2-0.
Morris gifted Barkers their third goal. A sloppy goal kick saw Jones steal the ball from a sleepy defence and tap the ball in for 3-0. This was the first time this year they had scored more than twice in a league game.
Ten minutes before the break, a throw-in on the right found Stokes. She raced down the wing and pinged a lovely cross in. Morris parried, but there was D’Ortenzio on hand to score from close range to make it 4-0, which it remained at the break.
The start of the second half was the Zebras’ best period of the game. A free-kick on the right was played to the far post, where Fraraccio showed that her game-saving repertoire extended to the expertly laid slide tackle.
On 65 minutes, McCullough laid back to Butera, who hit a lovely long ball to find Jones in space, but keeper Morris won the race to the ball. Then Barkers almost scored the goal of the season. Stokes raced down the right and crossed for Gundry, who smacked a volley just wide.
On 76 minutes, a Zebras corner from the right was headed off the line, but that was as close as they would come for the rest of the game. Two minutes later, Butera hit a long ball from the right. D’Ortenzio, with her back to goal, held off her marker and played back to Gundry. Gundry hit a good shot which Morris blocked, but McCullough beat a defender to the ball and scored Barkers’ fifth.
Jones then went on a solo run through the defence but shot wide, and just before the end, Zebras’ Freja Lindgren hit a shot just beyond the far post, and that was that. Full-time: Barkers 5-0 Zebras.
This was a commanding Barkers’ display, and you wonder if their passing game is better suited to the synthetic. Anyway, that’s football. Next is a trip to Malvern City.
