There were plenty of upsets at the top as Souths United and Moreton Bay United both slipped up against the Roar and Gold Coast respectively, whereas it was business as usual for Lions and The Gap.
SWQ Thunder 1 (Rolfe 65’)
Logan Lightning 9 (Taylor 20’ 26’ 62’, Pinkney 22’ 45’, Hein 35’ 46’, Kubicki-Garcia 57’, Gleeson 86’)
Clive Berghofer Stadium
Lightning gets the better of Thunder
The Thunder were rolled by Logan Lightning on Saturday afternoon in Toowoomba, the visitors running out 9-1 winners to record their first win after three straight defeats.
Charlotte Taylor scored a hat-trick with Gabrielle Hein and Natalia Pinkney both adding braces to go with strikes from Cecylia Kubicki-Garcia and April Gleeson as the Lightning ran riot, Louise Rolfe’s solitary strike the only response for the hosts.
The hosts have now lost seven games on the bounce and remain adrift at the bottom of the ladder.
Eastern Suburbs 4 (McKeen 57’, Holzworth 60’, Roberts 67’, Moore 78’)
Sunshine Coast Wanderers 3 (Isbel 5’, own goal 50’, Yang 90+3’)
Heath Park
Wanderers push Easts all the way
Easts and Wanderers served up another thriller in the NPLW, the hosts running out 4-3 winners at Heath Park on Saturday night to go alongside their sensational five goal thriller earlier in the season.
Chloe Isbel gave the hosts the lead that they would take into the sheds at the break with a fifth minute strike but Easts hit back with a vengeance in the second period, scoring three quick goals to wrest the initiative back from their hosts around the hour mark.
Easts’ Amy Moore picked a great time to add her maiden NPLW goal for the year with 12 minutes to go, a goal that gained in importance after Rui Pu Yang scored in injury time, but it was too late for the visitors who slumped to a sixth straight defeat.
Lions FC 4 (Harch 18’, Morton 36’, Riding 46’ 88’)
Mitchelton 1 (Wilson 62’)
Lions Stadium
Lions go top with second win of the week
Lions made it two wins in three days with a 4-1 victory over Mitchelton at Lions Stadium on Saturday after defeating Wanderers 3-0 on Thursday night in Buderim.
Kate Morton and Tegan Riding continued where they left off on the Sunshine Coast with a goal and a brace respectively to go with their strikes on Thursday night after Lana Harch had opened Lions’ account with her tenth of the season.
Darcie Wilson added a consolation for Mitchie who fall to a second straight defeat in the league. Lions meanwhile moved into top spot after Souths’ shock defeat.
The Gap 12 (Petterwood 3’ 15’ 22’ 59’ 65’ 73’, Dillon 19’, Bodey 33’ 44’, Bohl 61’ 78’, Doro 56’)
Western Pride 0
Walton Bridge Reserve
Free-scoring Gap dancing to Petterwood’s tune
The Gap continued their scoring spree with a 12 goal thumping of Western Pride on Saturday evening to close the gap on top spot to just four points.
A hat-trick in each half for Tiarne Petterwood – bringing her overall tally to 27 in 16 games this year – headlined the big victory with Greta Bodey (24 in 15) and Charlotte Bohl (7 in 13) each adding braces.
Jessica Dillon and Talitha Doro both added a goal each to complete the rout and handing the Pride their heaviest defeat of the season.
Mudgeeraba 2 (Skinner 62’, Heggie 82’)
Capalaba Bulldogs 3 (Latham 34’ 72’, Sen 90’)
Sid Bigg Park
Bulldogs hold off Mudgeeraba
Mudgeeraba pushed hard but ultimately just fell short of their first win since April 22 with a battling 3-2 defeat against eighth placed Capalaba Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon.
Capalaba had taken a 1-0 lead into the break but the hosts fought back hard in the second half, adding two goals of their own in the second period as they fought hard to salvage a point that would have moved them into 12th spot on the ladder.
But as it was Capalaba held on to record their seventh win of the season and second in under a month over Mudgeeraba.
Brisbane Roar/NTC 3 (S Freier 71’, Stephenson 89’, L Freier 90+2’)
Souths United 1 (Chapman 43’)
Wakerley Park
Souths topple to Roar late-show
Brisbane Roar upset the league leaders Souths United at Wakerley Park, running out 3-1 victors to hand Souths just their second defeat of the year and blow the title race wide open.
Amy Chapman scored her customary goal just before the break to give Souths the lead – her 27th goal in just 13 games – but the Roar hit back mid-way through the second half through Sharn Freier’s second goal in as many games.
Kijah Stephenson stunned Souths with an 89th minute second – her first goal in just her second match of the season – before Laini Freier added a third in injury time to record a fabulous win for the Roar.
Moreton Bay United 0
Gold Coast United 2 (Akins 7’, McElligott 13’)
Wolter Park
Jets downed as Gold Coast strike early
Gold Coast United have upset the league table and the form guide with a 2-0 away victory over third placed Moreton Bay United at Wolter Park on Sunday evening.
Two early goals from Mackenzie Akins and Meaghan McElligott – who returned to goalscoring form after a rare off week last time out against Lions with her 29th goal of the season – was enough for the visitors who are now unbeaten in their last four matches on the road.
The hosts tasted only their second defeat in ten matches against the surfsiders – who themselves hadn’t won in three prior to Sunday’s encounter.
Words: Simon Smale
Image: Ky Wain