Illawarra topple Blacktown 5-4 in NPL NSW women’s final at Valentine Sports Park

An incredible 5-4 comeback from the Illawarra Stingrays has knocked Blacktown Spartans out of the finals of the NPL NSW Women’s competition.

Action shot from the 2019 NPL NSW Women's elimination final between Blacktown Spartans and Illawarra Stingrays. Picture: Jeremy Ng/Football NSW

• World champ in driver’s seat for Australian Open Indoor Skydiving Championships
• Blair Overton leads NSW Metro to second place finish at Indoor Cricket National Championships

A great season has come to an early end for Blacktown Spartans FC.

The NPL NSW Women’s squad went down to Illawarra Stingrays in a thrilling nine-goal elimination final at Valentine Sports Park, Glenwood on Saturday.

Blacktown were in fine form heading into the clash on the back of three straight wins while Illawarra were desperate to bounce back from the 2-0 defeat they suffered against Sydney University in the last round of the regular season.

The Spartans flew out of the blocks to completely dominate the early stages of play.

An electric volley from Ash Crofts opened the scoring for Blacktown before a cross from Alix Roberts just four minutes later ricocheted off the far post and into the net to stretch the early lead to two.

When Crofts netted her second almost immediately after, it looked like Illawaraa were in for a long afternoon.

Illawarra came back from 3-0 down to claim a thrilling 5-4 victory. Picture: Jeremy Ng/Football NSW

But the Stingrays got the exact boost they needed when Michelle Carney cleaned up a loose save to finally put Illawarra on the scoreboard.

The momentum completely shifted from there as Illawarra ran riot in the late stages of the first half, scoring three goals in 15 minutes to take a 4-3 lead into the break.

The Stingrays extended their tally to five midway through the second when Kaelah Austin made the most of a penalty after Erica Halloway was fouled in the box.

Blacktown’s chances of pulling out a shocking victory looked all but over until goalkeeper Trudy Burke carried another Roberts cross over the line with seven minutes left in regulation time.

Unfortunately the Stingrays held on to record a memorable victory. It wasn’t all bad news for Blacktown however as the Spartans’ under-15 girls progressed to the semi-finals with a 1-0 win over Manly United.

IN OTHER NEWS