Gaffney Match Preview: Essendon Royals eye off top spot against Brunswick Juventus
By Jordan Cvitkovic
The Essendon Royals Senior Women set up will undergo another crucial round of football as they travel to De Chene reserve on Sunday afternoon to take on top of the table side Brunswick Juventus.
With Brunswick Juventus dropping points against Bundoora in a 2-2 draw and Royals winning in last week’s crucial match-up against Spring Hills, the gap between Royals and Brunswick has now been reduced to just one point heading into this weekend’s game.
Being victors over Brunswick would be a massive achievement for the Women’s side as Zebras have been a fantastic side in the competition for a long time now and not many teams have been able to put them to the test like the Royals have done so far this season.
Should Battiato’s side earn at least a point, they avoid being dragged back into a battle for second place with Spring Hills who are currently trailing the Royals by seven points with a game in hand.
After such a massive result the Royals maintain their positivity and high spirits coming into this game, which would give the side a massive boost when it comes to the psychological side of the game.
The Royals side has shown that they are more than capable of beating anyone in the competition so walking away with three points as well as climbing up to first place on the table wouldn’t be a shock.
Brunswick Juventus are still undefeated after 11 games played in the competition with the only points they have dropped this season are to the Royals at the start of the season and in their recent draw to Bundoora.
They have managed to score 70 goals in just 11 games and concede seven which gives them a plus 63 goal difference.
This is a strong indication of how strong the side has been this season and how capable they are of tearing teams down and scoring high amounts of goals.
Brunswick Zebras have two prolific players in their team in Laura Spiranovic and Cindy Lay.
Laura has bagged a total of 16 goals in 10 games and Cindy has a total of 21 goals in 11 games.
The Reserves will look to continue their great run, especially after their recent win over Spring Hills on Friday night.
The Brunswick Juventus reserves side has proven to be a relatively competitive side in the competition this season, but the Royals are the clear favourites going into that game.