Brisbane Roar 1-1 Western Sydney Wanderers
by Ben Carey (17/12/23)
Above: Brisbane Roar’s Sharn Freier (orange shirt) in possession today. Photo: Brisbane Roar.
On a piping hot Sunday evening in the Sunshine State, Brisbane Roar and Western Sydney Wanderers traded blows in an exciting, high-energy draw.
The Roar came into the match hoping to overcome a five-match winless streak, which was equal to the longest in their competition history. The Wanderers were hoping to continue their recent vein of rich form. Both teams took a point, but neither left entirely satisfied.
The match started out quite cagey, both teams testing each other out in the midfield. After about 10 minutes, Brisbane began to take it up a notch. They had a number of promising attacks involving the likes of Sharn Freier and Tameka Yallop, but the Roar couldn’t finish the chances off. In the 26th minute, however, good pressure from that pair forced a turnover in an advanced position. Yallop hit a well-measured pass to Corbin, who ran past a few defenders and pulled out a fine finish to slot it past Wanderers’ keeper, Sham Khamis.
In the 34th minute, a great corner kick from Hollie Palmer found the head of Rebecca Kirkup, who thumped it into the back of the net, but before the Roar could even celebrate, the goal was disallowed because Jenna McCormick was allegedly blocking the run of Khamis. If that is indeed the case, it was a very soft foul, and extremely contentious given the two-goal lead that was on the line.
10 minutes later, it looked as if Freier would erase the pain of the disallowed goal. There was a mad scramble in the Wanderers’ box. Freier took a shot, which hit the woodwork, and there was a goal-line clearance from a Wanderers defender. By some miracle, the visiting side went into the halftime break only down one goal.
The second half started off much the same as the first, with Brisbane Roar on the attack, and Wanderers mostly absorbing pressure. However, the script was flipped soon after the 50-minute mark, when a sensational ball from Caspers in the midfield found an unmarked Sophie Harding inside of the Roar box. Harding’s finish was ice cold, putting it past Roar keeper, Jordan Silkowitz, to equalise.
After the equaliser, the game became a lot more even. There were a lot of midfield skirmishes and half chances up both ends. Just past the hour mark, the Wanderers attacked the Brisbane goal, the ball deflected off Roar defender Kirkup and hit the underside of the crossbar before being quickly snatched up by Silkowitz. But the Wanderers were a lick of paint away from the winning goal.
The final 20 minutes, saw a lot of player fatigue and resulting cramps and substitutions, understandable given the massive workload most of the players were putting in on a hot and humid day. As a result, space began to open up and there were numerous attacks up both ends of the pitch. Brisbane probably had slightly better opportunities, but neither the home side nor the visitors could convert on any of the chances.
The Roar and the Wanderers have done a bit of a Freaky Friday in terms of form this season. Wanderers lost their first two matches but have now won three out of their last five (and the only one they lost was a tight 4-3 loss to Melbourne City). Conversely, Brisbane won their first two matches, against top teams no less, but since then they’ve now had three draws (all 1-1 draws) and three losses (including the 5-1 drubbing from Canberra last weekend).
Brisbane Roar will have a lot of positives to take away from the match, and many points for improvement as well. Their first-half performance was fantastic, but they needed to be more clinical in front of goal. Freier was sensational today. Despite the cramps all over the park, she kept her energy high the entire game, using her pace and footwork to hurt the Wanderers down the left side.
Yallop put in a good shift too. Her positioning and physicality were wonderful. Corbin was great up front, but perhaps should have put away at least one more goal. The chances were there. The Roar backline performed well for the majority of the match, but allowing someone of Harding’s quality and form to be unmarked in their box is absolutely criminal.
Western Sydney Wanderers will take away very similar positives and learning points to the Roar. Although it was a solid team effort, it was ultimately a story of two key players for them. Harding up front was excellent. She had one thing on her mind, and that was scoring goals. Not only did she score the equaliser, but she took six more shots, several of them testing Silkowitz. Up the back, Khamis was outstanding. She made six saves, including several diving saves and at least one where she tipped the ball over the crossbar.
Teams: BRISBANE ROAR (3-4-3): Silkowitz, Scarpelli, McCormick, Thompson, Kirkup, Brodigan, Norrie, Palmer, Freier, Yallop, Corbin. Substitutes: Richards, McQueen, Holgersen, Davies, Stephenson.
Scorers: Corbin 26’.
Teams: WESTERN SYDNEY WANDERERS (3-4-1-2): Khamis, McComasky, Harrison, Bruce, Matos, Gordon, Price, Rue, Caspers, Younis, Harding. Substitutes: Collins, Abdul-Massih, Apostolakis, Ferris, Morris.
Scorers: Harding 50’.
Referee: Katherine Jacewicz.
Attendance: 1,750.
Follow Impetus on social media – we’re @ImpetusFootball on Threads, Instagram, X (Twitter), TikTok, and Facebook.
impetusfootball.org 