FOOTBALL: It may be a building year for Monaro, but they have already shown a great deal of improvement since their 1-13 loss to Gungahlin in round one, coach Tilly Carbone said.
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The Panthers are yet to get a win, but were full of confidence after keeping top of the table Belconnen United to just four goals in their 4-1 loss on May 10 and managed to keep scores tied at 1-1 for 40 minutes of their 8-1 loss to Tuggeranong United at Riverside Stadium.
The green and black were without star midfielder Ellie Pobar and key position players Hayley McLachlan and Brielle Jancevski were overcoming the flu to put the homeside on the back foot.
But solid defence lead by Ruby Gambale made it difficult for United and an outstanding strike from Diarna Genovesi sailed the ball into the back of the net and evened up the match.
Tuggeranong managed to sneak a couple of late goals to lead 3-1 at halftime, but Carbone said the girls were definitely still in with a chance.
"We played really well in the first half and stuck to our game plan," he said.
"They were a very physical and mature side, physical in the contest and we just ran out of legs in the second half."
Gungahlin piled on another five goals in the second half to win by seven goals, but Carbone said the last two matches were confidence building for the young side.
"The girls were acting as if they'd won a grand final in the game against Belconnen," he said.
"It really gave them a lot of confidence.
"We played well in parts against Tuggeranong, but we let in a few soft goals from corners.
"If we can eliminate all of the small things we should stay in it for longer."
The Panthers tackle Woden Weston on Sunday and Carbone is confident the girls "should be able to compete with [Woden Weston]".