Evado Studios Women’s Match Report: Top of the Table

There is a particular view that only comes from the summit, and on Sunday afternoon at Carey Sports Complex the Royals women climbed up to take it.

Four goals away from home, a clean and ruthless dismantling of a Boroondara side that started the season as the team to beat, and at the end of the ninety minutes a place at the top of the NPLW that this group has been building towards all year.

It began the way the best Royals goals have begun this season, with movement and vision rather than force. Cobi Wilbert drove forward through the middle, Kelli McGroarty chipped a ball through the Boroondara back line, and Isabella Sewards timed her run to perfection before lifting a beautiful finish over the keeper. One-nil, and the lead held to the break, though not without its scares. The Royals were forced to clear one effort off the line and Sophie Dehne produced a string of important saves to keep the advantage intact at half-time.

The second half began with the contest still in the balance, the Royals carrying the ascendancy without quite landing the blow that would settle it. Then, around the eightieth minute, the goals started to flow. McGroarty found space in a congested box, took Bronte Peel’s pass, and produced a smart turn before firing home for a two-goal lead, a finish that took her equal top of the golden boot race in the process.

The third was the pick of them. McGroarty was brought down on the break, and just as Boroondara thought the danger had passed, Mikaela Jurcic launched the ball from deep. McGroarty got there first and produced a sumptuous flicked header into the path of Peel, who made no mistake from close range. Three-nil, and the result was beyond doubt.

There was still time for a moment to savour. Deep into the afternoon, Alessia Bresciano, now in her second season at the club, scored the sealing goal for four-nil and her first in Royals colours and in the NPLW.

A fitting way to cap a statement away day, and a goal that will mean a great deal to a player who has waited for it.

The numbers behind the win matter as much as the manner of it. The Royals now sit top of the NPLW on thirty-two points, level with Bulleen and ahead on goal difference, the climb from a difficult start completed at exactly the right time. Boroondara, who beat the Royals 3-1 at Cross Keys back in February when they were still unbeaten, have now slipped to fifth, the early pace-setters of the competition heading in the opposite direction to the side they once had the measure of.

Back-to-back statements, seven goals one week and four the next, and a group that has found its strongest run with the business end of the season in view.

The title conversation is no longer a question of whether the Royals belong in it. They are sitting on top of it.