Melbourne Victory 2-0 Canberra United.
By Emma Burke 16/12/23
Above: Melbourne Victory’s Mackenzie Weinert. Photo: Melbourne Victory.
Goals on either side of the half for Melbourne Victory have led them to their sixth win in a row, defeating Canberra United 2-0 at AAMI Park in round 8 of the Liberty A-League Women.
Victory came out looking to make a statement, launching multiple attacks on Canberra, eventually breaking United down through American forward McKenzie Wienert, who found her third goal of the season, assisted by Jamilla Rankin.
Melbourne had the game all but handed to them when Canberra goalkeeper Chloe Lincoln was shown a red card early into the second half after a challenge outside the box brought Victory’s Rachel Lowe to ground.
The card saw United take off Mary Stanic-Floody in midfield to send in their second goalkeeper Coco Majstorovic into goal for her second appearance for the club.
Only minutes later would Majstorovic make the same mistake Lincoln had, only this time the striker in Kurea Okino, would be able to play around her, leaving her with an open goal to play the ball into.
Okino has now scored three goals in three games for Melbourne Victory, a very positive sign for her form, as she spent last year in the Victorian NPLW scoring 31 goals in 21 games for the Boroondara Eagles.
With nothing more to lose and everything to try and gain, Canberra looked to throw everything and the kitchen sink at Victory in the final 10 minutes of the game, subbing out their defender Cannon Clough for young striker Ruby Nathan.
United were unable to find their way onto the score sheet, but ultimately their defensive performance was one to be proud of, with both of their keepers making 6 saves each, denying Victory the opportunity to really run away with the game.
Round nine will see Victory return to AAMI Park to take on cross town rivals Melbourne City in the Christmas Derby, while Canberra will host Central Coast Mariners at their home ground of McKellar Park.
Melbourne Victory (4-2-3-1): Williams, Nash, Hansen, Morrison, Rankin, Murphy (Zois 88’), Kellond-Knigh, Weinert, Lowe, Goad (Privitelli 73’), Okino (O’Grady 81’)
Scorers: Weinert 28’, Okino 57’
Canberra United (4-3-3): Lincoln, Ilijoski, McKenzie, Clough (Nathan 87’), Grove, Piazza (Clark 46’), Milivojevic, Stanic-Floody (Majstorovic 51’), Christopherson, Heyman, Flannery
Referee: Georgia Ghirardello
Attendance: TBC
impetusfootball.org 