Pride players share in victory over former teammates

Ipswich team displays fighting spirit in late surge to secure National Premier Leagues victory. See why the result was more satisfying.

The Western Pride NPL women's side take a drinks break during an earlier game at the Briggs Road Sporting Complex. Pride’s latest victory over Logan was extra satisfying. Picture: David Lems

SCORING three goals in the last seven minutes showed the Western Pride women's side has plenty of character.

Pride's latest 4-2 National Premier League's win over home side Logan also provided a satisfying moment on Saturday night.

Pride trio - captain Meaghan McElligott, April Gleeson and Meg Krautz - played in the Logan team last season before joining coach Trent Gregson's revitalised squad for the 2021 season.

"It was really good to get the win for them,'' Gregson said.

Gregson's Coomera captain last year Brittney Lacek is current Logan leader.

"It was like little battles inside the battle last night, which made the win a little bit sweeter,'' Gregson said.

However, it was the way Pride fought back after Logan led 1-0 and drew ahead 2-1 well into the second half that most pleased Gregson.

"We could have started panicking,'' he said. "But some of our more experienced players all stepped up on the field and I made a change, especially in the midfield, and we scored three goals in the last seven minutes.''

Striker Abbey Lloyd led the way with a double, having returned in recent weeks after sustaining a bad ankle injury in the pre-season game against Broadbeach.

She played her first 90 minute game for Pride on Saturday night at Cornubia Park.

"Having a player like that come back to your team is just invaluable,'' Gregson said.

The Pride coach was delighted to see Lloyd finishing off attacking opportunities along with McElligott and Kate Webb.

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Western Pride women's NPL head coach Trent Gregson has set some new targets after his team’s encouraging progress. Picture: David Lems

With two wins, two draws after an opening round loss, Western Pride are positioning themselves for a top four spot in coming weeks.

"We're really happy,'' Gregson said.

"With the (Tuesday night) draw over Souths, we probably should have won but Souths are a very good team.

"This (beating Logan) really sets ourselves up for the next four games.

"We know what we should expect to get out of those games and we're really hoping we can achieve those targets.''

The first major challenge for Pride is securing a top eight position to retain their place in next year's NPL Women's competition.

After 16 rounds, the top eight are secure in one series with the bottom nine forming a different competition.

Pride's next NPLW match is against Olympic at Goodwin Park next Sunday.

Originally published as Pride players share in victory over former teammates