ALTONA conceded a sloppy last- minute goal in a narrow 4-3 loss to Toorak East Malvern in the Hockey Victoria women’s premier league at the Hawthorn-Malvern Hockey Centre on Saturday.
The A’s, sitting in the relegation zone, confronted a similarly hungry, young and quick team, which turned the game into an entertaining thriller for the neutrals.
It went goal-for-goal all match, with neither side getting on top for more than five minutes at a time.
Hockeyroo Danielle Schubach was a dominant force for the A’s, streaming through the midfield and seemingly impossible to tackle.
Bronte Kerley played well as a pivot at centre-half, while Caity Campbell was rock-solid in defence. Phoebe Rothfield was a handful in attack, running and leading hard and chiming in with two goals.
Stephanie Sarantis showed her class as the A’s’ main avenue to goal and was unlucky not to be on the scoreboard with a couple of near misses.
Young attacking midfielder Ahried Isorena had the best game of her short career thus far, linking in well with Rothfield and Sarantis.
The A’s had several chances to win the match after Kerley’s penalty corner conversion drew them level at 3-3 with five minutes to go.
With a minute left on the clock, TEM broke A’s’ hearts with a goal from an unmarked striker on the post. “One mental lapse can cost a match and our side will learn from this,’’ A’s coach Marc Richardson said. “Lessons like this hurt short- term but benefit us longer term.”
Footscray had a 2-0 win over Powerhouse-St Kilda away at the McKenzie Pavilion.
Leah Merrett was on song with two goals for the Bulldogs.
In the men’s premier league, Altona played out a 2-2 draw with TEM on the road. Chris Coleman scored a double for the A’s.
Footscray feasted on goals in an 8-4 flogging of Southern United to make it two wins on the trot.
Liam Braithwaite scored twice for the Bulldogs, while there were singles to Oscar Allan, Riley Damnics, Craig Haley, Andrew Monte, Tynan Whight and Andrew Wiseman.
