Melbourne City 5-3 Brisbane Roar
by Ben Carey (28/12/23).
Above: Brisbane Roar’s Ayesha Norrie (black shirt) protects the ball from Melbourne City’s Bryleeh Henry. Photo: Brisbane Roar.
A hat-trick and an assist from Emina Ekic helped to steer Melbourne City to a dramatic win over Brisbane Roar at AAMI Park today as Round 10 of the A-League Women opened with an eight-goal thriller.
Brisbane got off to a lightning-fast start against their hosts, scoring their first goal in just the fourth minute. An excellent ball into the box from Sharn Freier found the feet of Mia Corbin – her first shot was blocked by a defender, but her follow-up went in and gave her team an early lead over the league leaders.
The Roar were only able to hold on to the lead for a mere 15 minutes before a sloppy pass coughed up the ball to Ekic in a dangerous area and she slotted it past Jordan Silkowitz to level the game. The City star scored another just two minutes later after a cross from Kaitlyn Torpey found the feet of Daniela Galic. Galic’s shot was saved by Silkowitz, but the ball fell to Ekic, who tapped it home.
Ekic was involved in yet another Melbourne City goal about 10 minutes later after she whipped in a wicked corner that found Hannah Wilkinson, who was able to tuck it past Silkowitz. City went into halftime with a 3-1 lead.
Roar had a great start to the second half with Jenna McCormick scoring a brilliant header from a well-measured corner from Hollie Palmer. They were now within striking distance once more.
But Ekic was not having any of it. In the 52nd minute, some great build-up play from Melbourne City resulted in Ekic having the ball in the box. She outfoxed the Roar defenders using some fancy footwork and then completed her first-ever professional hat-trick, which restored City’s two-goal lead.
But Brisbane were still not done. In the 72nd minute, City committed an error playing out from the back, and Matildas legend, Tameka Yallop, stole the ball and passed it to Corbin, who scored her second of the day and once against put the Roar within striking distance of the hosts.
Sadly, for the Roar fans, City was awarded a penalty late in the game, which Rhianna Pollicina converted. Melbourne City would close out the match with a 5-3 win over the visitors.
Teams: MELBOURNE CITY (5-3-2): Proulx, Torpey, Chinnama, Stott, Otto, Grosso, Galic, Hughes, Pollicina, Ekic, Wilkinson. Substitutes: Barbieri, Roestbakken, T. McKenna, L. McKenna, Henry.
Scorers: Ekic 20’, 22’, 52’, Wilkinson 35’, Pollicina (pen) 75′.
BRISBANE ROAR (3-4-3): Silkowitz, Scarpelli, McCormick, de la Harpe, Thompson, Freier, Palmer, Norrie, Kirkup, Yallop, Corbin. Substitutes: Richards, McQueen, Stephenson, Hecher, Davies.
Scorers: Corbin 4’, 72’, McCormick 47’.
Referee: Rebecca Durcau.
Attendance: 2,314.
Follow Impetus on social media – we’re @ImpetusFootball on Threads, Instagram, X (Twitter), TikTok, and Facebook.
impetusfootball.org 