Anneke Corry has only been with Belconnen United for eleven matches, but has already written herself into the club’s history books, after a five-star midfield showing helped her team to a third successive Federation Cup on Saturday against Canberra Croatia.

Not only did Corry score a crucial stunner for the Blue Devils in a narrow 1-0 victory, but she went on to claim Player of the Match in the biggest game of her side’s season so far no less.

After another success-ridden day for the club, Corry had nothing but positives to say after what is sure to be a memorable occasion for the midfielder.

“I’m really excited, we were looking forward to this, our preparation was really good,” she expressed. “We knew what we had to do [and] we got the job done, so super happy.”

Throughout a match of ever-changing weather conditions, Belconnen remained consistently in the driving seat, and despite not converting their multitude of opportunities, Corry said that her side’s confidence in their ability to put games to bed, kept them confident that a goal would come.

“We had so many chances and we kind of knew coming into half time that if we just kept doing what we were doing in the first half, the chances would come and it eventually did,” she said.

The only chance converted of the game was arguably the least clear-cut, as a Belconnen corner kick was cleared by Croatia, only for Corry to hit a bobbling ball first time from outside the box, over the reach of an on-fire Ellie Summers in the opponents’ net, and into the back of the net.

It was a goal that capped off another fantastic showing in a Blue Devils shirt from the club’s new midfielder.

“The ball came out to me and I was hoping that I struck it well and I did so super excited for it to go in,” Corry said, when asked about the goal.

Having arrived from Bulls FC Academy from the prestigious National Premier League (NPL) New South Wales competition, the midfielder has well and truly settled into football in the capital seamlessly, and has fastly become one of the most important names on Scott Conlon’s team sheets.

Corry spoke highly of her new club and her transition to playing football in Canberra.

“We have a lot of confidence in this group, it’s a really lovely squad and I’m super grateful to be here, so really enjoying it so far,” she said. “It’s a really strong squad, like all 16, we’ve kind of spoken about this the whole way through the season so far, that everyone coming off the bench does their job as well, and it’s super competitive to start, and Deakin [Canberra Croatia] are a really good side as well so it was a good game today.”.

Looking towards the rest of the campaign, the elusive league title and Grand Final trophy await a Belconnen United team who have fallen at the final hurdles in recent campaigns, however Corry says the clinching of the Federation Cup will only increase the confidence in the squad that the remaining silverware will be theirs.

“[It will] give us more confidence, we know what we have to do, the end goal is pretty clear and so I think it’s just a step in the right direction,” she said, when asked about the impact of their cup victory.

Words: Sam Watson