INJURIES and studies will leave Melrose badly depleted when it takes on a resurgent Albury City in a women’s quarter-final tomorrow.
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Defending cup champion City heads into the knockout clash after robbing Boomers of the league title in a 2-0 win last week.
City defender Brogan Broadway said it was their best performance of the year.
“The way we moved the ball was so much better than what we have been doing,” she said.
“We weren’t running ourselves ragged in the middle of the park and at the same time were able to shut down their key players.
“That result is just what we needed in the run into the finals.”
Broadway said it was a vastly different approach to the previous week when they were overrun by ultimate League champions Wodonga Diamonds.
“It was about letting the ball movement do the work,” she said.
“The previous week against Diamonds we just ran out of legs in the second half.”
Melrose defender Rachael Clarke admitted her team’s late season slump was the result of a lack of depth.
“We have lost a heap of players from the middle of the year, and will have to drag a few out of the reserves for Sunday,” she said.
“We have been playing with the bare 11, no fresh subs on the bench for some time, and you just can’t do that against the better sides.”