Sunshine Coast Women survived a late scare in scraping past a brave Souths United Women 1-0 at Kawana Sports Precinct on Sunday.
The home side had to endure a threatening corner in the final moments to register a result which cements their top six spot.
Despite only fielding 10 players from the outset, Souths’ performance marked a vast defensive improvement from last week’s eight-goal defeat to SWQ Thunder.
Fire’s Danielle White, who netted twice against the same opposition in March, had the best effort of the opening 15 minutes when she shot straight at the goalkeeper from outside the area.
White wasn’t to be denied a second time though as the Brisbane Roar train-on player drove into the bottom corner just after the half hour for a 1-0 lead.
It remained that way at the break and Fire continued to find it difficult to pry open the visitors after the restart despite their numerical advantage.
Brooke Matheson had one chance to extend the lead with a header but the match drifted into the latter stages with Souths gaining hope of snatching an unlikely point.
The Brisbane side almost did just that in the final minute only to see a headed corner kept out by Fire ‘keeper Katie Offer.
Speaking after the match, Fire defender Cassie Burns explained Souths’ rearguard as tough to puncture.
“I thought they did really well with regard to getting their whole team behind the ball but unfortunately it made it that little bit tricky for us to attack because it was very congested,” Burns said.
Souths coach Byron Hellmuth praised his side’s determination in nearly pinching a result.
“I was very excited for that last minute when we pushed forward and got that corner and actually got a head on the ball for the chance to tie but unfortunately the good defence there stopped us,” Hellmuth said.
Sunshine Coast FC Women 1 (Danielle WHITE 34’)
Souths United FC Women 0
