The late afternoon sun is not alone in lighting up Compton Park. Round 11 of the Veto Women’s City League 3 is in full swing and today the ladies of Logan Metro FC have hit form. Passes ping from left to right and right to left. Speed of thought matches speed of movement. Today, the teamwork has clicked and the combinations cut through the Jimboomba rearguard.
They are sharp and alert. The universal vocabulary of the beautiful game is to be heard at every movement. “Man coming!” comes the call from goalkeeper Madison O’Loughlin. With names like O’Loughlin, Ahsam, Grosset, Amini, Escobar-Cerbara and Balaji, the team sheet more than hints at the multicultural make-up of this playing group. Peru, Rwanda, Australia, Afghanistan, South Sudan and the Cook Islands are just some of the different parts of the world represented on the field today. It is entirely fitting for a team based in Logan where the word ‘Welcome’ is spelled out in more than 40 languages on official city council signage.
Today it is Rosa-Maria Kauvai of the Cook Islands who nearly steals the show. A combination of vicious, in-swinging corners and monster throw-ins have wreaked havoc and yielded three goals before half-time. Strong performances are in full supply. The backline of Devota Bizimana, Sarah Martin and Sruthi Balaji eats up the ground as tenacious tackles and timely interceptions keep opposing forwards at bay. Temika Ahsam, Erin Dunn and Danielle Dryden are busy and constructive, prompting a wave of attacks from the middle of the park. Up front, Sarah Melville leads the line with clever, incisive runs, meaning no rest for the visiting defenders.
The emerging consistency in the team’s performances is exemplified in the effort and enterprise of Chelsea Day, Stephanie Grosset, Jennifer Escobar-Cerbara and Erin Dunn. A strong squad mentality is evident, bolstered as the season has taken shape by others like Hannah Pellowe, Yvette Nshirimimana, and Manuelia Vumilia who struck a double in the second game of the year.
Now momentum is building after a stop-start season that will be remembered as the year of Covid-19. Four weeks earlier, in round 8, a superb penalty save by Madison O’Loughlin has sparked a fightback against the table-toppers of Slack’s Creek. It falls just short but the 2-1 defeat to the unbeaten league leaders indicates there is plenty to play for before the last ball is kicked this year. Big wins follow in rounds 9 and 10 where the thoughtful touches of Taj Amini and the cultured left foot of Angela Castillo are prominent and telling.
A second-place finish – and a place in the grand final – looms as a real possibility with a 4-1 victory over Jimboomba confirmed in round 11. With a win against Eastern Suburbs in round 12, Metro can leapfrog Easts into second spot. It’s a tight encounter. Easts strike early but Hannah Couchman, running on to Danielle Dryden’s reverse pass, shoots home her 10th goal of the season to tie the game. The season remains in the balance with two games to play.
In the build-up to their penultimate match – a derby tussle with near neighbours and good friends of Logan Village – the Metro players are joined at training by former Australian international, Bryony Duus, who represented the Matildas at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and the FIFA World Cup Finals in 2003. She jumps in with coaches Michael Ulstad and Branden Turepu at the Wednesday night session to share some of her experiences with the players. “If you need!” she calls to the player in possession during a transition drill. It’s a simple but inspirational reminder that the global language of football is the same one spoken by every player who pulls on a pair of boots. Bryony is back at Compton Park two nights later to support Metro and watches them charge to an 8-1 win marked by patches of pitch perfect football and first goals of the season for Temika Ahsam, Arok Madit and Zoe Mazzone.
Victory in their final game against Annerley would have secured second place, with Eastern Suburbs going down at Bethania in round 14. The game falls on Hallowe’en night at the end of an unruly, stormy Saturday and despite the enterprising promptings of Jennifer Escobar-Cerbara and the powers of recovery on show from Sarah, Sruthi and Devota in the backline, the storm clouds have closed in on their season. Victory for Annerley deprives Metro of a grand final day out but at the end of a disruptive year when a pandemic has turned the world upside down, this little world of sport on Brisbane’s southside has some great memories to mark 2020.
