Western Sydney Wanderers 1-0 Newcastle Jets
Report by Johnathan Stack, EXCLUSIVE pitchside photos from Kris Goman at Wanderers Football Park (28/1/23).
Above: Olivia Price celebrates her winning goal for Western Sydney Wanderers. Photo: Kris Goman for Impetus.
Western Sydney Wanderers moved into the top six of the Liberty A-League courtesy of a scrappy 1-0 win over Newcastle Jets.
A deflected strike from Olivia Price was enough to down the Jets at a very hot and humid Wanderers Football Park on Saturday evening.
The resurgent Wanderers, who are four games unbeaten at home, are now within seven points of the top four.
In a very tight game, where both sides had the same number of chances it was always going to be close.
Both sides lacked urgency in midfield early on and it looked like if there were any goals, they were going to have to come from set pieces.
But in the 36th minute, Sophie Harding played the ball to midfielder Olivia Price and the Wanderers made good on their first proper chance into the final third.
Price’s strike deflected off Jets defender Taren King, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the ball went past goalkeeper Georgina Worth.
The goal lifted the Wanderers, but it was the Jets who had the better of the second-half chances and Newcastle missed two golden opportunities to equalise.
Ash Brodigan pounced on a cross from the left wing but mistimed her shot, hitting it over the bar. Later, substitute Adriana Konjarski failed to execute a one-on-one with Jordyn Bloomer, her strike bouncing off the goalkeeper’s hands.
Wanderers were able to see out the win and climb up to sixth in the table, Newcastle, however, has conceded a total of 10 goals in three consecutive losses and could finish the weekend rock bottom if Wellington Phoenix beat Brisbane Roar on Sunday.
Next up for Wanderers are champions Melbourne Victory at CB Smith while Newcastle play Canberra United at No2 Sportsground.
Teams: WESTERN SYDNEY WANDERERS (4-3-1-2): Bloomer, Apostolakis, Hunt, Ferris, Matos, Gordon, Harrison, Steinmetz, Price, Harding, Bolden. Substitutes: Caceres, Chlastáková, Gallagher, Hristodoulou, Khamis (GK).
Scorer: Price 36′.
NEWCASTLE JETS (4-2-3-1): Worth, Clough, King, Garnier, Allan, Agnew, Davis, Griffith, Brodigan, Johnson, Andrews. Substitutes: Allen, Coelho (GK), Konjarski, Puxty, Stapleford.
Referee: Isabella Blaess.
Attendance: 326.
Kris Goman’s EXCLUSIVE photo gallery from Wanderers Football Park:
impetusfootball.org 