Two goals down and away from home, the league leaders looked nothing like a side top of the table. Then Izzy Berks decided the afternoon belonged to her.
Eltham travelled to Shipston Reserve and found themselves chasing the game almost from the off. Bayside Argonauts led through Nicole McMahon midway through the first half and doubled the advantage through Ai Kawano shortly before the break, sending the Redbacks in 2-0 down and staring at a result that would have felt very out of step with their season.
What followed was the kind of response that explains why this side sits where it does. Berks pulled one back inside the opening minute of the second half to give the comeback a heartbeat, and though Bayside held firm for the best part of half an hour, the winger was not finished. She struck again in the 82nd minute to level the contest, then completed her hat-trick three minutes later to turn the game completely on its head and put Eltham 3-2 in front. From two goals down, the Redbacks suddenly had all three points in their sights.
It was not to be. Bayside found a leveller deep into stoppage time, the 93rd minute bringing the goal that made it 3-3 and denied Eltham a win their second-half display had earned. The final whistle left a strange taste, a point gained from a losing position, yet one dropped from a winning one.
The Redbacks remain top of VPL Women on 31 points, their position untouched, and the bigger picture is a healthy one. A side that can fall 2-0 behind on the road and still find a way back to lead is a side with belief running through it, and in Berks they have a match-winner capable of changing an afternoon on her own. The frustration of the late equaliser is real, but so is the character that produced the comeback in the first place.
There is more than enough here to take forward. Eltham have shown all season they can win games in plenty of ways, and on Saturday they showed they can drag themselves out of trouble too.
Up the ‘Backs.