THE depth of the Monaro Panthers Women's Premier League side has continued to shine after the girls held on to top spot on the ladder with a 5-3 win over Tuggeranong United at Riverside Oval last Sunday.
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The win keeps Queanbeyan's premier female sports team in the hunt for a second straight grand final spot after two shock 5-0 losses in rounds nine and 10, with third-placed Canberra FC next in their sights on Sunday.
Coach Tilly Carbone will still be without six of his best players for at least another two weeks, but has taken comfort in the depth he has to choose from while still having experienced players in Meg McLaughlin, Georgia Fogarty, keeper Lizzy Read, Gill Raymond and Stephanie Coates.
Kass Guglielmin, Georgia Bailey, Olivia Fogarty, Lauren Harper and Julia Bedin have all played well for Carbone coming up from the under 19s side.
Carbone was extremely happy with the effort these young players put in, especially given Tuggeranong are a known attacking side.
"Julia Bedin, as you saw, was terrific today, and I'd give her a best on ground performance with the way she set up some of those second half goals," he said.
Canberra United national fringe player McLaughlin booted a hat-trick to continue her stellar form going forward, while her mid-field also proved hard to handle and this also pleased Carbone.
The Canberra FC match will likely be the last one before some of his missing senior players return, and with games against lowly placed sides Weston-Molonglo and ANU upcoming, he said there was a great opportunity to keep steam-rolling the competition.
"Canberra are a good side, but our young girls are now showing what they can do, and if they can keep composed we can still come out on top," he said.
"Then we should start getting back our senior players again from there."