Women’s Match Preview: Royals kick-off Nike FC Cup campaign at home against Altona City
Essendon Royals’ senior women begin their 2024 Nike FC Cup campaign when they take on Altona City at Cross Keys Reserve on Saturday afternoon.
The Royals come into the contest off the back of a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Boroondara Eagles in the league last Saturday, surrendering a one goal advantage on their home deck.
Vince Battiato’s side started strongly and took the lead through Filomena Delic, before goals from Anais Josefski and Gabby Hollar swung the pendulum in the favour of the visitors who came away with all three points.
Watch the highlights from the 2-1 loss to Boroondara Eagles below.
It was Essendon’s second loss of the campaign, with both defeats notably coming off the back of a five day break.
Despite the loss, there have been plenty of positives to emerge from the season to date, notably in their wins against FC Bulleen Lions and Heidelberg United, and also in their losses to Calder United and Boroondara, where they’ve taken the lead on both occasions, but have ultimately ran out of gas down the stretch.
Bethany Mason-Jones has been brilliant between the sticks, while Audrey Oastler, Filomena Delic and Ava Groba have been particularly impressive in attack.
Their focus turns to the Cup this weekend against an Altona side who are currently in State League 2 North-West.
Altona advanced to this stage of the Nike FC Cup with a 14-0 win over Sunbury United in the first round, before defeating Sale United 2-1 in the second round.
The danger players are Jacquelyn Spiteri and former Royals player Natasha Inia, who have scored seven and four goals, respectively, in their Cup campaign to date. Spiteri scored six of those against Sunbury, while Inia helped herself to four of their own.
Altona City goalkeeper Evie Bowen is another former Royal set to take on her old side, having been a part of the senior set-up lat season.
Essendon will be hoping to stoke the flames of last year’s run to the quarter-finals, where they fell agonisingly short of a place in the final four, losing 2-1 to eventual Casey Comets.
However, they would get their revenge over the Comets, defeating them on penalties in the Nike FC Cup Community Cup Final.
Kick-off for Saturday’s contest is at 3 PM (AEST).