Evado Studios Women’s Match Report: Jenkins brace, Plate retained, statement made in front of Cross Keys
There are afternoons in this competition that come along once a year.
Silverware on the line, a packed home end, a fixture wrapped inside something bigger than three points. Saturday at Cross Keys was that afternoon, and the Royals women turned it into the loudest possible read on where this group sits.
Essendon Royals 4, South Melbourne 1. The Coveny-Curcija Plate stays at Cross Keys. Female Football Week closes on a statement.
The opening twenty minutes told you most of what you needed to know. The Royals pressed from the first whistle; the ball did not stay in our half long enough to settle, and the visitors found themselves chasing shadows. Maggie Jenkins, the new signing whose midweek goal against Melbourne Victory in the Nike FC Cup had introduced her properly, did the introducing all over again on the ninth minute. A clean strike to put us a goal up inside ten and the home end was already on its feet.
Twenty-one minutes later, she had her brace. A second strike on thirty to double the lead and start the conversation about whether the Royals could blow this fixture open before the break.
The answer arrived in a concerning fashion six minutes after that, when Jenkins limped off on thirty-six to be replaced by Ava Groba. A league debut to remember for the wrong reason on top of the right one. The whole squad will hope it is something minor and short.
The disruption did not blunt our edge. Akeisha Sandhu, the kind of midfielder who finds the moment when the moment matters, struck on forty to make it three. Half time arrived at three-nil and Cross Keys properly believed.
The third goal had felt like the cushion. The fourth was the statement. Kelli McGroarty on fifty, five minutes into the second half, finishing off a Royals move that had South Melbourne backpedalling from the kickoff. Four-nil and the only question left was the margin.
South Melbourne, to their credit, refused to fold completely. Francesca Iermano found the consolation on fifty-five, the kind of strike that gives the closing half hour a flavour rather than a procession. From there the visitors made the most of a triple substitution at fifty-four to bring fresh legs and chase a second goal that would have made the scoreline a little tighter. It did not arrive.
What did arrive was a properly chippy run-in. Yellow cards came at a rate that told its own story. Vlajnic in the book on fifty-five, then Burn at eighty-five, with three Royals booked across a five-minute window late on. McGroarty and Paige Kingston-Hogg, on as a sub, both went into the book on eighty-five, and Sandhu followed in stoppage time. Five yellows across the night between the two sides. A game that mattered, between two sides that knew it.
The closing minutes were squad management. Isabella Sewards off on seventy-six for Kingston-Hogg. Bronte Peel and Cobi Wilbert off on eighty-four for Alessia Bresciano and Emma Langley. Fresh legs late, three points sealed, and the Plate carried back into the dressing room.
Mikaela Jurcic led the back line, Kendrah Smith next to her in the centre, Sophie Dehne in goal. Amy Parkinson and Ayano Koizumi worked the middle of the park. Beth Nottle and Georgia Christopoulos kept the engine room turning from the technical area. Jaiden van der Heijden made the calls that mattered, and the side answered every one of them.
The ladder picture lifts properly. Twenty-six points, third on the table, two points off second, the gap to the top three holding firm. South Melbourne sit fifth on twenty-four. The reverse fixture is not until the thirtieth of August. The Royals get to carry the Plate for the next three months at minimum.
Female Football Week deserves a closing line. Thirty-plus years of women’s football at this club. A Plate named for two men who built their reps at South and built their next chapters here. A new signing on the scoresheet twice in her first home game. A side that sits inside the NPLW top three with the work in front of it.
The story keeps writing itself.