By Ryan Miller-Woods 30/12/23
Above: Deven Jackson in possession for Canberra United. Photo: Canberra United.
Canberra United 1-1 Western United
Canberra United and Western United shared the points with a 1-1 draw at McKellar Park, in a highly entertaining match that could have either way.
Within the first minute of the match Canberra came agonizingly close to opening the scoring via a great cross by Vesna Milivojevic that was directed to Nicki Flannery in the six-yard box but just wasn’t able to be converted. It was a very dangerous opportunity that would have been the perfect start.
Both sides early on were very good on the ball where Western had the majority of possession within the first 10 minutes with 55%. Canberra on the other hand, looked just the more likely to have found the back of the net given the chances that they created early.
In the 23rd minute, Canberra once again came close to a goal with a great cross by Mary Stanic-Floody that found Michelle Heyman in the box but just wasn’t able to have the most ideal contact.
Eight minutes later, Flannery provided an integral through-ball to Sasha Grove on the wing who then crossed the ball into the box for Heyman. Western’s Alana Cerne just made contact with the ball, and it went off the post for the opening goal of the match.
Canberra were dominant in the first half from an attacking perspective. Western wasn’t really able to make many dangerous chances in the final third thanks to Canberra’s defence who had an answer to everything.
In the 57th minute, a massive scrabble with the ball occurred in Canberra’s box. Chloe Lincoln made a very significant save which during all of this. Despite coming close in front of goal during this sequence, Western United didn’t score thanks to the Canberra defence.
As the second half progressed, Western came to life and replicated how they were early on in the match. Most importantly, they were creating more chances that definitely kept Canberra on alert but due to the defence, Western needed to take full advantage of the slightest opportunity available to them.
In the 76th minute, Western’s hard work finally paid off thanks to a great cross by Tyla-Jay Vlajnic. The ball was headed off Hannah Keane in the box and directly to A. Taranto who slotted the ball past Lincoln for her third goal of the A-League Women’s season as Western scored a crucial equaliser.
In the 90th minute, Jaclyn Sawicki almost scored an amazing goal from outside the box that just came off the post. Western thought they’d scored the winner from the rebound, but Hieda was deemed offside.
A special congratulations has to go to Australian international and Western United co-captain Chloe Logarzo achieved the milestone in this match 100 appearances in W-League/A-League Women. A great achievement for a great footballer.
Teams: CANBERRA UNITED (4-3-3): Lincoln, Jackson, Clark, Clough, Grove, Ilijoski, Heyman, Stanic-Floody, Milivojevic, Christopherson, Flannery. Substitutes: Majstorovic, Murray, Rojas, Nathan, Bertolissio.
Scorers: Cerne (OG) 31’.
WESTERN UNITED (4-3-3): Beall, Papadopoulos, Maher, Cerne, Sardo, Sawicki, Logarzo M. Taranto, Vlajnic, Keane, A. Taranto. Substitutes: Dall’Oste, Dakic, Robers, Prakash, Hieda.
Scorers: A. Taranto 76’.
Referee: Isabella Blaess.
Attendance: 1,235.
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