Southport’s Eva Gasparovic to miss rest of BWPL season, including Saturday’s trip to The Lakes

SOUTHPORT are hopeful a season-ending knee injury to one of their most influential players will not derail their Brisbane Women’s Premier League charge.

SOUTHPORT are hopeful a season-ending knee injury to co-captain Eva Gasparovic will not derail their Brisbane Women’s Premier League charge as they put their unbeaten record on the line tonight.

The Warriors have stamped themselves as top-four challengers over the first three rounds, with an impressive 5-0 drubbing of Taringa Rovers book ended by draws against Broadbeach United and Robina City.

But last week’s 3-3 stalemate with City was marred by defender Gasparovic’s ACL tear, leaving them without one of their most influential figures for tonight’s 6pm trip to The Lakes in Brisbane’s north.

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“It is totally devastating for (Eva) and for Southport. (But) one of our strengths is our depth in quality in the squad so hopefully we can continue our success (this weekend) across ressies and prems, who both remain undefeated,” coach Trent Gregson said.

Southport co-captains Eva Gasparovic and Lisa Stutz. Picture: Mike Batterham

“The ladies have been putting in all the hard work at training, which has been paying off on game day in the way we execute our plan. In the first three games we had a frustrating amount of lost opportunities in front of goal so we have been working on our tactics in the final third and finishing.

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“Our passing game and possession retention has really stepped up this year but I think our fitness has let us down. We are looking forward to the bus trip to The Lakes this weekend.”

Broadbeach, who have beaten Virginia (2-0) and Taringa (5-0) since their Round 1 draw, make a 5pm trip to Coomera, who picked up their first point with a 2-2 draw against Virginia United last weekend.

Robina host Taringa at 4pm.