A goal two minutes into the second half from lively forward Charli Mitchell helped Canberra Croatia to win the Women’s Charity Shield with a 1-0 win over Canberra Olympic in an entertaining match at Deakin Stadium.
Mitchell struck in somewhat fortuitous fashion just after the resumption of the contes following the half-time break, her right wing cross into a crowded area from an acute angle eluding everyone and sneaking its way past Olympic’s debutant goalkeeper Bella Williams who was potentially unsighted by Sienna Birnie’s attempt to flick home at the near post.
It was tough on the young custodian who had been in superb form, making the save of the match in the opening forty-five minutes as she pushed a stunning, meatily struck volley, from Mitchell onto the crossbar in an eventful start to the contest.
Just prior to that Olympic’s own debutant, Madelyn Whittall, may well have opened the scoring herself latching onto a well-weighted through ball from Katrina Peric and sprinting clear of the Croatia defence. The League Champions own teenage debutant in goal, Maddy Angel, stood strong however and beat Whittall’s shot away to safety.
Later in the half Croatia struck the woodwork again. Awarded a free-kick just outside the area, Jamie Berkeley lofted her strike over the wall and watched as it cannoned back off the underside of the bar, bounced just in front of the goal-line and was hacked away to safety by the relieved Olympic defence.
Chances were rarer in the second stanza, the teams having retreated to the changing rooms with the scoreline locked at 0-0, even after Mitchell had broken the deadlock with her effort swiftly upon the restart.
With full-backs Zoe Sobczak and Brandy Nicholson in fine form patrolling their respective flanks, and Amy McLachlan and Rhiannon Fensom in typical no-nonsense mood in the centre of defence, Olympic struggled to test Angel who had relatively little to do in the second half.
There was a massive scare for Croatia when Whittall was brought down right on the edge of the penalty area, a tackle so close to being inside the box that the match referee appeared to, at one stage, point to the spot, only to change her mind after consultation with her assistant and award the free-kick just the other side of the line.
For Olympic that chance went begging and they could have conceded again when Berkeley hammered a shot from range that thumped off the outside of the post with Williams beaten, but it mattered little as Croatia claimed a second consecutive Charity Shield triumph and, perhaps, laid down a marker for 2023.
RESULT
Canberra Croatia 1 (Mitchell 47’) Canberra Olympic 0
Photo: Fotonic
