Judgement Day

By Gavin Staindl
JUDGEMENT Day for the Casey Comets will not be on Sunday when they host VCL Country for the season’s final match; instead Casey’s time of reckoning probably occured last night in a court room.
As News went to print, Comets coach Ian Williamson was appearing before a Football Federation Victoria tribunal pleading not guilty to a “serious misconduct” charge stemming from Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Altona.
For the second time this season, Williamson was ejected from the match after the referee believed Williamson berated her call to remove captain Mel Atherton from the field under the blood rule.
Williamson was ordered to front the FFV tribunal to plead his case last night.
If found guilty, Casey will be fined $3000 but crucially, the Premier League club will be stripped of three premiership points, which would virtually remove it from finals contention.
“(This) could cost us our season,” Williamson said.
Despite not winning, Casey, at the time, all but assured itself of a finals berth on Sunday with a 1-1 draw over Altona.
Casey toyed with its opposition, putting more shots on net in the first 20 minutes than it had all game against Box Hill last week.
Even when they went down to 10 men while Atherton had her bleeding forehead bandaged, the Comets still secured three corners in the space of 10 minutes.
After changing her bloodied shirt, Atherton attempted to return to the field, but was disallowed when the referee spotted stains on the captain’s socks.
As the referee waited for Atherton to change socks, Williamson and the large Comet Stadium crowd grew frustrated at the amount of time wasted on stoppages.
After an exchange of words, Williamson was heard to have yelled towards the referee as she walked away, “we’ll take care of the socks, you just get on with the game.”
The referee had heard enough and evicted the coach – not that it mattered a great deal as Williamson could still be heard shouting orders from the other side of the ground.
The incident didn’t fluster the Comets, who appeared to grow in resolve with Alex Gummer scoring the game’s first goal, and her first for the season, minutes before half time.
The second half was a different story as Alex Lynch was forced to make consecutive diving saves as Altona pressed. Lynch, who had been inspiring in goals in the second half, could not cling to the bouncing ball that spun away for the equaliser late in the match.
Casey had a last-ditch attempt to reclaim the lead, but after a brilliant day up forward, Nicola Prins fired a gettable shot wide of the keeper.