Michaela Day's flame was beginning to wilt.
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The Belconnen United midfielder was dropped to the reserves and suffered a broken toe in her bid to win back her place in the senior side.
Maybe that is just what she needed, because the fire was ignited once more. If anyone needed proof, look no further than her sterling effort in the Capital Football Federation Cup final.
Day netted two opening-half goals to lift the Blue Devils to a 6-0 win over Woden-Weston at Deakin Stadium on Saturday night, securing the clubs sixth straight Cup title in the process.
Ahead just 2-0 at the break, Belconnen poured in four second-half goals to run out resounding winners and crush Woden's hopes of a maiden cup crown.
Day missed a chunk of games earlier in the season after getting dropped from the first grade team, before sustaining a broken toe in the reserves. But the star midfielder admits it was the wake-up call she needed.
"Playing first grade for 10 or so seasons, you do get a bit comfortable," Day said.
"I think we all need it at some stage, it just makes you work harder and want to get back in the first grade team even more.
"Obviously I broke my toe so I had more weeks out and that gave me even more fire to get back into it."
Belconnen coach Antoni Jagarinec said it was great to see Day bounce back on the big stage after her early season struggles.
"For her to come out and do that [on Saturday], that's what I expect from her," Jagarinec said.
"She knows that, she has pretty high expectations for herself as well, so i'm really happy to see her go out there and play a pretty good game."
Woden appeared up for the fight during the opening stages of the clash, until a penalty in the 18th minute allowed Day to step up and slot her first.
The midfielder added her second 10 minutes later, but the Wanderers held firm to keep themselves within striking distance at the half-time interval before Belconnen piled on four goals in the second stanza.
Jagarinec said the first-time cup finalists made it incredibly difficult for his side throughout the match.
"Full credit to Woden-Weston, they were sensational," Jagarinec said.
"They changed their game plan, they changed a few positional things and we were very lucky to go into half-time 2-0 up.
'"[In the] second-half we flexed our muscles a bit, particularly in the last 20 minutes where we scored three goals."