The 2023 National Para Football Championships continued in Perth, with the penultimate day kicking off as sides looked to book a spot in tomorrow's finals.
Read the full wrap of day three action!
CommBank ParaMatildas
VICTORIA 3 - 5 FA SELECT
Georgia Beikoff, Tamsin Colley and Tahlia Blanshard all started for FA Select in their opening game of Day 3, with Blanshard captaining the side. The team, still searching for their first win and the first goal of the tournament, had the CommBank ParaMatildas' top scorer to thank for their opening goal, with Georgia Beikoff providing the opener for FA Select against Victoria.
Beikoff doubled her tally for the day to put FA Select back up 4-2, making a tackle on a Victorian player in the box and poking home her second of the campaign to put FA Select in reach of their first win of the 2023 tournament.
CommBank Pararoos
VICTORIA 3 - 5 FA SELECT
After CommBank ParaMatildas' top scorer, Georgia Beikoff gave FA Select the lead, Victoria clawed a goal back through Angus MacGregor to send the sides into the break locked at 1-1.
Trey Hunter gave FA Select the lead early in the second half, a brilliant team goal saw Luc Launder pick up the ball and find an unmarked Hunter making a run into the box, with the youngster taking a touch and firing it past the Victorian keeper.
Launder had a goal of his own moments later to make it 3-1, however, Victoria went right down the other end of the restart and clawed a goal back through Kaylan Van Heer to make it 3-2.
Beikoff doubled her tally for the day to put FA Select back up 4-2, making a tackle on a Victorian player in the box and poking home her second of the campaign to put FA Select in reach of their first win of the 2023 tournament.
Trey Hunter made it 5-2 for FA Select, however, Joshua Beekes clawed a goal back with the final kick of the game to make it 5-3, with FA Select picking up their first victory of the campaign.
NEW SOUTH WALES 10 - 0 QUEENSLAND
The second game saw the defending champions, New South Wales, take on a familiar foe in David Barber's Queensland side. Daniel Campbell was on the scoreboard early for NSW, picking up the ball just inside the box and making no mistake to put his side in front.
NSW scored a quick-fire double to make it 3-0 in the opening 10 minutes, with Connor Marsh and Ben Atkins finding the back of the net. Jack Williams netted the fourth for NSW, and then Connor Marsh added his second to make it 5-0 before the break.
The second half picked up right where the first left off, with Daniel Campbell netting his second of the game to make it 6-0 to NSW. Ben Atkins added another to NSW's tally, nodding in a lovely header across goals for his second of the game. Harri Dowdell then made it 8-0 for the defending champions. Augustine Murphy made 9-0.
Murphy then made it 10-0 to see NSW claim a dominant win in their quest to lift the trophy once again.
SEMI-FINAL 1: WESTERN AUSTRALIA 3 - 2 VICTORIA
The first of the semi-finals saw Western Australia host Victoria for a spot in Saturday's decider and it was the hosts that drew first blood, a long ball from one box to the other saw Connor Bunce pounce to put WA in front.
Victoria levelled the scores through Christian Bitsikas, linking up with Kaylan Van Heer to keep Victoria in the contest. WA restored their lead almost immediately, Bunce scoring his second of the match in spectacular fashion from a free kick to give WA a 2-1 lead heading into the break.
WA started the second half strong, with Bunce forcing an own goal to make it 3-1. Victoria clawed one back to make it 3-2 in the dying minutes of the game to set up a grandstand finish, with Western Australia holding on to book the first ticket to the final tomorrow.
SEMI-FINAL 2: NEW SOUTH WALES 3 - 0 QUEENSLAND
The second semi-final of the day saw a replay of today's earlier game, with defending champions New South Wales looking to book their spot in the finals for a second year, in their way a Queensland side.
The opening goal took a while to come, with NSW finally breaking the deadlock at the 20-minute mark through Timothy Blowes to give the defending champions a 1-0 lead heading into the break. Some crucial saves from Christopher Pyne in goals ensured that NSW kept their clean sheet heading into the interval.
Jeremy Boyce came off the bench and made an instant impact, doubling NSW's lead after finding the back of the net from just outside the box. NSW added a third just less than 10 minutes left on the clock, with Jack Williams scoring to see NSW finish the game 3-0.
NSW will take on the hosts, Western Australia, tomorrow for a chance to lift the National Para Football Championships 2023.
Day Four - Saturday 7th October:
3rd Place Playoff - Game #14 Victoria v Queensland - 9:30am AWST/12:30pm AEDT - Watch Here
Final - Game #15 Western Australia v New South Wales - 1pm AWST/4:00pm AEDT - Watch Here
