A beautiful day for football at the historic St George Stadium as St George FC and Eastern UNSW Lions went into battle in Round 2 of the Arrive Alive Women’s Super League. The Lions made the early running, opening up St George on the fringes. An early shot from The Lions Jessica Hammond sailed over the bar but the visitors continued to push forward. Both Hammond and Rachelle Godman were seeing plenty of ball but hadn’t managed to seriously threaten St George keeper Cassie. St George struggled to break from their half early as Eastern UNSW made the running. St George slowly began to gain some momentum. In the 12th minute St George received a free kick just inside the Eastern UNSW half. A fine hit by Jessica Carosi found her advancing team mates breaking through. The Lions keeper advanced to meet the ball but was beaten to the bounce and then caught hopelessly out of position. Laura Fagan found herself with the ball in front of an open goal and, after a momentary bobble, slotted the ball away for the opening goal. The Lions responded strongly, immediately gaining territorial advantage. After an injury break for Lions Adriana Celic, St George broke forward with Melissa Toumbelikis racing towards goal. Toumbelikis looked certain to score but sprayed her shot to the left of the goal. St George weren’t getting a lot of the early play but looked dangerous when they did. In the 21st minute Eastern UNSW won a corner which was sent to the edge of the goal by Jessica Hammond. As keeper Cassie Nadar advanced for the ball it deflected from the head of St George defender Brooke McGuire into her own goal. Suddenly it was all square at one a piece. The Lions were surging now as they went in search of the lead. After St George lost the ball in attack a Jessica Hammond cross found an open Adrian Celic whose shot was well wide of the mark. St George were finding it tough to get out of their own half as The Lions continued to push forward. Hammond again crossed nicely for Eastern UNSW before Celic shot to the keeper. Eastern UNSW had the ascendancy in midfield, showing much more enthusiasm to the ball. St George were tending to turn over possession cheaply as they tried to bear from defence. St George keeper Cassie Nadar was doing a fine job with a couple of fingertip saves. The Lions created another opportunity with Rachelle Godman missing a golden opportunity in front of goal when heading over the crossbar. Another rare break from defence saw Melissa Toumbelikis rush forward to steal the ball from a Lions defender before her shot shanked to the right of the Eastern UNSW goal. As play swept to the opposite end Eastern UNSW won a corner. They played the ball short, turning over possession and allowing St George to escape upfield. Soon after, The Lions were again pushing forward as Celic broke down the left. She cut in field before crossing in front of goal where an air swing and a smothered shot from Jessica Hammond saw St George survive another onslaught. St George were still threatening on the rare occasions that they broke forward but it seemed obvious that they were going to need to take full advantage of these opportunities if they were going to keep Eastern UNSW Lions at bay. The referee blew the whistle for half time with the scores locked at 1-1. Eastern UNSW had certainly been dominant territorially but hadn’t managed to convert all of that pressure into goals. St George now had a stiff wind at the backs for the 2nd half. The opening forays of the 2nd stanza started much more evenly as St George’s passes started to find their own players. First half goal scorer Laura Fagan was in the thick of things with an early shot on goal. This looked like being a tight 45 minutes of football. Some neat work by Kirrily Hooper and Lauren Gardner then gave Melissa Toumbelikis an opening. Toumbelekis pushed past a defender before finding space and releasing a quality shot which sailed over the fingertips of Lions keeper Amanda Watson and into the back of the net. St George now found themselves in front 2-1 in the 58th minute of the match. This was certainly deserved as St George had started the 2nd half with much more purpose to their play. A Lions corner was then headed clear by a St George defender. Laura Fagan won the race for ball and raced clear. She then served up a good ball for a surging Melissa Toumbelikis who charged towards goal. Her shot was brilliantly saved by a diving Watson in goals for The Lions. Certainly a lucky escape for Eastern UNSW. St George remained in a dominant field position, winning a corner from which countless opportunities were denied by a scrambling Lions defence. The tide had turned in this match as the home side grew in confidence. The Lions game had started to resemble St George’s first half where they were on the back foot and only coming forward in spasms. The wind was blowing heavily in Eastern UNSW faces in the 2nd half and was making life difficult in their attempts to put attacking free kicks and crosses into the St George box. Eastern UNSW were working in the replacements as they looked to resurrect their first half dominance. St George also replaced the hard working Laura Fagan with Vanessa Stanton at the 75 minute mark. St George appeared a little more organised defensively in this half. Eastern UNSW were lifting however as they attempted to fight their way back into the match. This was proving to be something of an arm wrestle with both sides working hard. A cross from the left by The Lions saw the ball drop to the feet of Rachelle Godman but her shot was blocked by a scrambling defender. The resulting corner saw St George unable to clear the ball and a shot from the edge of the box by Lions replacement Leanne Sharp found the back of the net to equalise. With a 2-2 scoreline after 85 minutes, this was anyone’s game. Eastern UNSW had come alive in the last ten minutes and were now finishing all over a tiring St George side. St George were able to push forward though and won themselves a corner. The beautiful curling place kick couldn’t find a red and white shirt though, defusing the danger for The Lions. Now St George were responding well but neither side was destined to nab all three points here as the referee called a halt with the final score at 2-2. This was probably a fitting result to what was an entertaining match. St George Captain Natalie Di Francesco was disappointed that her side did not come away with the three points. However, she felt that the signs for St George were much more positive than in the 2009 season. Di Francesco wished Eastern UNSW Lions the best of luck for the rest of the season. Eastern UNSW Coach Anton Ivancic felt that his side had shown plenty of character to come back in the latter stage of the second half. Ivancic said that his team had taken some time to come to grips with running into the wind after half time. To snatch a late equaliser was a fitting reward for their hard work said the Lions coach. Ivancic also felt that fresh legs off the bench had also assisted the team in staying in the match. The Lions coach was happy to take away a share of the points. Both teams showed plenty of spirit. It was certainly a game of two halves with Eastern UNSW Lions in control for most of the first half whilst St George rebounded strongly to take the honours after half time. There was certainly plenty of promise shown by both sides for the season ahead. ST GEORGE FC 2 (L.Fagan 12m, M.Toumbelikis 58m) EASTERN UNSW LIONS 2 (own goal 21m, L.Sharp 85m) Source FNSW