Melbourne City 2-1 Wellington Phoenix
By Emma Burke 20/1/24
Above: Kaitlyn Torpey. Photo: Melbourne City.
Melbourne City have survived a late scare against Wellington Phoenix to win 2-1 at their first competitive fixture at the City Football Academy Field.
The first half saw both sides with a handful of chances on goal, but neither were able to make anything stick.
Early in the second half, City were able to find their first goal of the afternoon. Julia Grosso after utilising her footwork to work around multiple Phoenix defenders. Unable to get any power on her shot after turning, her ball spilled over into the path of Rhianna Pollicina. Pollicina made no mistake in shooting across the face of goal and into the far corner.
Wellington came close to equalising through Michaela Foster, whose shot from the top of the box was taken directly on target. City goalkeeper Lisyanne Proulx pulled off a truly remarkable one-handed save to send the shot over the bar and preserve City’s clean sheet.
Emina Ekic then extended the lead for Melbourne City, after receiving the ball from young star Daniela Galic and sending two defenders to the shops, fired on goal, leaving Wellington keeper Rylee Foster beaten for the second time this afternoon.
Wellington brought themselves back into the game when Venezuelan international Mariana Speckmaier made good use of a poorly cleared ball in the box.
The Phoenix were doing everything they could to find an equaliser in the final minutes of the game, their efforts assisted by Emina Ekic being sent off after collecting her second yellow card, which saw her leave the pitch immediately and will see her sidelined for City’s game next week against cross-town rivals Western United.
It wasn’t meant to be for Wellington as City managed to play through the last 15 minutes of regular time and six minutes of stoppage time without conceding a second goal allowing them to come away with all three points.
Melbourne City (3-1-4-2): Proulx, Grosso, Stott, Roestbakken, Otto, Pollicina, Hughes, Galic, Torpey, Wilkinson, Ekic Substitutes: Henry, Davidson, L. McKenna, Chinnama, Barbieri
Scorers: Pollicina 51’, Ekic 74’
Wellington Phoenix (4-3-3): R. Foster, M. Foster, Lake, Barry, Davidson, Longo, Taylor, Main, Cox, Breslin, Speckmaier Substitutes: Errington, Whinham, Jaber, McMeeken, Edwards
Scorers: Speckmaier 78’
Referee: Isabella Libri
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