It was an incredible sixth week of action in the Westfield W League. Impetus editor Ben Gilby reports.
Melbourne City are still unbeaten and top of the W League courtesy of a 1-0 win at home to Perth Glory in front of 600 spectators at ABD Stadium in Broadmeadows, some ten miles outside Victoria’s capital. However, thanks to an astonishing result in Sydney, their grip on first place is more tenuous than previously.
City dominated the encounter against last season’s beaten Grand Finalists, but struggled to make the breakthrough in the face of a superb display from Perth’s defence and goalkeeper Eliza Campbell.
The Sky Blues’ first opportunity came courtesy of Emily van Egmond, whose free-kick went wide. Defensively, the Western Australians were strong and were only seen offensively on the occasional counter attack. They did though have an opportunity through Morgan Andrews who capitalised on a mistake from Ellie Carpenter and hit her shot agonisingly wide.
Melbourne City made the breakthrough on the hour mark. Matildas’ Steph Catley’s free kick rocked the crossbar and New Zealand international Rebekah Stott reacted quickest to bundle the ball home. The hosts could have increased their winning margin, but Ellie Carpenter’s shot from van Egmond’s cutback hit the side netting, and Campbell made a superb save from Scottish star Claire Emslie. City ran out 1-0 winners in front of 600 spectators at ABD Stadium
Whilst Melbourne City stand three points clear at the top, Western Sydney Wanderers could remove them over the Christmas period when they play their game in hand. This is due to a quite staggering 5-0 win for the Wanderers over defending W League champions Sydney FC in front of a delirious home crowd of 2,233 in Parramatta.
The Black and Reds, who have almost recorded more points already in this campaign than they did in the whole of the past two seasons chalked up their first victory over their cross city rivals for five years in real style which lays down a significant marker for the rest of the 2019/20 season.
Western Sydney Wanderers started on fire, and built a two goal lead after just seven minutes. First, Lynn Williams strode purposefully down the right wing and found Kristen Hamilton. She in turn laid it back to Amy Harrison who hit it into the far left hand corner of the net out of the reach of Sydney keeper Audrey Bledsoe.
Shortly less than two minutes later, the home side doubled their lead, with Williams and Hamilton playing another influential role. Williams’ ball to the far post saw Kyra Cooney-Cross have all the time in the world to head home.
Just before the break it was 3-0 with Cooney-Cross firing home a stunning strike. Amy Harrison received great pass from Williams. The scorer of Wanderers’ first goal played it to Cooney-Cross in the middle, just outside the area, and the ball was curled into the far corner.
Kristen Hamilton, who was giving Sydney major headaches all afternoon long, was involved in the fourth when she broke clear and played a ball in. Lynn Williams slid the ball into the net.
Wanderers were rampant and the shell-shocked visitors needed Audrey Bledsoe to make two stunning saves, but even she could not prevent a fifth goal at Bankwest Stadium. It was Lynn Williams who sealed her brace when she rounded Bledsoe and rolled the ball in to joyous scenes amid arguably the greatest result in Western Sydney Wanderers Women’s history.
Adelaide United’s winless start to the campaign continued after a 2-1 loss to fourth placed Canberra United in front of 693 supporters at the Marden Sports Complex.
Despite having the best of the opening exchanges, Adelaide went behind after ten minutes thanks to the record equalling 42nd W League goal from Canberra hot shot Leena Khamis, who fired a fierce effort from the edge of the area.
The South Australian hosts will rue a host of missed chances to level the score-line. Mary Fowler really should have scored when she rounded the visitors’ keeper but Kahlia Hogg cleared. Chelsie Dawber had another golden opportunity for Adelaide, but Olivia Price saved Canberra. They paid the price for this profligacy when seventeen year-old Canberra midfielder Hayley Taylor-Young crashed home her first ever W League goal after Adelaide failed to clear Camila’s corner.
Adelaide United finally got on the scoresheet in the closing stages through Emily Condon, but it was far too little too late as the home side look in danger of being marooned at the bottom of the table.
The final game of the round took place at Epping Stadium where Melbourne Victory’s disappointing start to the campaign took a positive twist after they ended Brisbane Roar’s excellent run of form after they earned a 0-0 draw in front of 406 spectators. It is important to state that this poor looking crowd figure was impacted by the game being moved to a 10:30am kick-off in order to avoid forecast temperatures of 43oC (109oF).
The Queenslanders had the best of the early opportunities as Rylee Baisden and Tameka Yallop were particularly prominent. Roar were also faced by a Melbourne Victory keeper in Casey Dumont (herself a former Brisbane custodian) who was in outstanding form – particularly in denying both Baisden and Hollie Palmer in quick succession. Katrina Gorry spooned another Roar effort over the bar.
After the break, with temperatures hitting the high thirties in centigrade, Melbourne got a foothold in the game, but they had no better luck in front of goal than Brisbane.
The next round of matches in the Westfield W League take place between Boxing Day and 29th December. Impetus will have all the news from Round Seven on 30th December.
Latest Westfield W League Table:
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | PD | |
| Melbourne City | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 16 | + 5 |
| Western Sydney Wanderers | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 13 | + 9 |
| Sydney FC | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 8 | 12 | + 2 |
| Canberra United | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 8 | 10 | + 2 |
| Brisbane Roar | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 9 | 7 | – 1 |
| Melbourne Victory | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 5 | – 3 |
| Newcastle Jets | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 4 | – 3 |
| Perth Glory | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 1 | – 6 |
| Adelaide United | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 0 | – 4 |
Teams in bold qualify for the Finals play-offs.
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