Goals from Liz Doherty and Allira Toby saw Olympic progress to the Round of 16 in the Kappa Women’s Super Cup with a 3-0 victory against a 10-man Eastern Suburbs at Goodwin Park on Tuesday night.
Eastern Suburbs were on the back foot early, going down to 10 players after a red card in the 16th minute to goalkeeper Holly Van Der Zee after she handled the ball outside the box.
Substitute keeper Susie Stewart couldn’t stop Doherty from close range after she bundled the ball into the goal following a mazy India Kubin run and shot to give Olympic the lead in the 33rd minute.
Olympic doubled their tally in the 40th minute Doherty combined nicely with Toby who calmly finished into the bottom corner.
The home side’s passage to the Round of 16 was confirmed when Matalena Daniels earned a penalty kick for her side which Doherty converted smartly into the back of the net in the 86th minute.
A number of spectacular saves from Eastern Suburbs substitute goalkeeper, Susie Stewart kept the scoreline from blowing out further.
Speaking post-match, Olympic Head Coach, Danny Byrne said he was pleased with the sides performance in what was a good warm-up ahead of the rematch in the league on Saturday.
“I’m happy more so for the momentum so the girls keep winning, I kept on shouting at them to keep up the intensity and keep good habits.
“For me it’s about making sure, with the bye on the weekend, that we put everything we had into tonight and leading into playing them again on Saturday.
“Credit to the girls, it takes a lot of discipline and a lot of effort to make sure that they were able to break that outfit down.”
Tuesday’s match provided an opportunity for a number of players to get plenty of valuable minutes in the legs, with Byrne using all five available substitutes – four of which were made at half time.
“We have got a bigger squad and I keep on saying we’ve got 19 players.
“For me the cup is a great concept by Football Queensland and in the future years it will be good, but if you ask any coach at the moment, their goal is to make that top eight.
“So for me the cup is a nice side project but it’s more important if we make that top eight and get league points.”
Olympic’s women are back in action on Saturday night when they travel to face Eastern Suburbs at Heath Park in NPL Queensland Women’s action (5:15pm KO).
MATCH DETAILS
Kappa Women’s Super Cup 2021 – Round 3: Olympic FC v Eastern Suburbs FC
Goodwin Park, Yeronga
Tuesday, 18 May
Olympic FC – 3 (Elizabeth DOHERTY 33’ 86’, Allira TOBY 40’)
Eastern Suburbs FC – 0
Olympic FC: Nadine KEAST (FOGARTY 46’), Allira TOBY (Dilara CIFTCI 67’), India KUBIN (Talitha DORO 46’), Kate MORTON, Teani KARALOUKA, Elizabeth Doherty, Tiffany DIBLEY (Kyarna BOUSEN 46’), Sophie WEATHERBY, Willow LIUKAINA, Matalena DANIELLS, Julia DUFFY (GK) (Tamara CUNNINGHAM 46’)
Unused Subs: Rosie SUTTON.
Eastern Suburbs FC: Kaho OSHIMA (Chloe PRIEDITIS 70’), Georgina AMOS, Estella MAZZONI, Izabella MILEN (Sabine FOURNIER 70’), Jessica CURRAN, Chantelle MAUGERI, Emily BUTLER, Kate MUSCAT, Lauren ASKIN, Holly CLARKE, Holly VAN DER ZEE (GK) (Susie STEWART 16’).
Unused Subs: Maya BRUECKNER, Annika PAULSEN, Teagan LYNCH.