Harper Sercombe
Calder United’s legacy continued to grow last Sunday as it won its sixth consecutive Nike F.C. Cup.
United claimed victory against the Bulleen Lions in an even contest. Both teams had plenty of shots on goal early without managing a score. It wasn’t until the 78th minute when United’s Lucy Richards broke through to give them the lead.
Raquel Deralas then put through a 90th minute score to give them the 2-0 win and the cup.
After winning the first five cups under former coach Mark Torcaso, United continued on their winning ways under the new regime of co-coaches Helen Winterburn and Nathan Maiorana.
Winterburn said it was especially special with a new-look Calder and a younger squad, it was a great achievement.
“It’s a testament to the players, they’ve worked really hard this season,” she said.
“We’ve been building through the year and to come out on top, in a pretty tough game against Bulleen who caused us some problems.
“The girls stuck to the game plan, they knew what we wanted to do.”
United and Bulleen faced off in a National Premier League Women’s fixture on the weekend prior to the cup final, which gave Winterburn an understanding of how the Lions were going to approach the game.
“They didn’t look to change too much I don’t think,” she said. “For us, having dominated the game the week before but not scoring, we had something on our backs.
“We set up in a very similar way as we did the previous week and then it was just about being clinical and scoring those goals when we did make it to the finals.”
Alana Cerne and Natasha Dakic have both returned to United from Western United and been key factors behind the team’s resurgence in recent weeks. Both players starred in the weekend’s final.
“[Cerne] was fantastic yesterday, breaking everything down and even getting forward and creating some opportunities for herself, she’s obviously had a stand out A-League season and it’s great for her to continue to build on the back of that with Calder,” Winterburn said.
“Tasha (Dakic) was solid yesterday, she’s got great passing ability and defensively she’s switched on, she can win balls in the air.
“To have those players back in the middle of your team, just helps definitely, they just help with the game and the players around them as well.”
With only one regular season match left against Bayside United in the NPLW, United needs to win to guarantee themselves a spot in the finals. The match was set to be played after deadline.
The club has already won two titles this season and is hoping to add the third to the cabinet.
“It’s the final push,” she said. “I think we as a team, we’re coming into form at the right time at the back end of the season, which is what you want heading into finals.
“We can’t underestimate Bayside, we need to make sure we’re switched on for that game, the focus goes back in now.”
