Melbourne City 1–3 Western United
By Ben Carey 25/1/24
Above: Khali Johnson celebrates with her Western United teammates after scoring the winning goal. Photo: Western United.
Western United have proven once again to be Melbourne City’s kryptonite, securing a commanding 3-1 win over the hosts on Thursday evening. Western took two wins from two last season, and their first match this season ended in a 2-2 draw. This most recent win sees Western leapfrog Perth Glory and Sydney FC to claim second spot on the table, ironically just behind City.
It was a rainy evening in Melbourne and the wet weather had a noticeable effect on the pitch at AAMI Park, resulting in a few more slips than usual and causing the ball to hold up more on the surface.
Western United came out of the gates dominating possession and looking to create chances in Melbourne City’s defensive half. City though, who are known for their possession-based style of play, soon wrestled control back and started creating chances of their own.
Around the 20-minute mark, there was a very nervy five minutes or so for City. There were a few sloppy passes that resulted in turning over possession cheaply in dangerous areas, and then an attempt from City goalkeeper, Lysianne Proulx, to play out from the back clipped the heels of a Western United attacker, narrowly avoiding deflecting back into City’s goals. A few minutes later, a shot from last season’s Golden Boot Winner, Hannah Keane, hit the post. Melbourne City appeared to be on thin ice.
Soon after, after a great steal in the midfield, Western United surged forward. A great ball from Japanese international, Keiwa Hieda, set up Matildas icon, Chloe Logarzo, to take a shot at the City goals. She made good contact with the ball, but Proulx was able to parry it away, but it bobbled up right into the path of Keane, who headed it home, breaking a five-match goal drought.
In typical Melbourne City fashion, they upped their intensity and put pressure on Western’s goals once more. Just three minutes after they conceded, City narrowly missed an equaliser after Brylee Henry took a shot on goals that deflected off Grace Maher and hit the crossbar. The resulting corner, however, was more fruitful for the home side. The corner was whipped in by Rhianna Pollicina, which then found three consecutive Melbourne City heads. The first was Taylor Otto, who flicked itjust beyond the far post where Kaitlyn Torpey redirected it back in front of goals for New Zealand’s World Cup hero, Hannah Wilkinson to finish. Melbourne City really used their heads to nab the equaliser.
Melbourne City came out strong in the second half, mounting a number of attack on Western United’s goals. The best attempt came at the 50-minute mark and was the result of some fantastic build up play from City. Torpey made a spirited run down the left flank and hit a beautifully weighted pass to Wilkinson in front of goal, who finished the goal perfectly. Much to the dismay of City fans, the goal was disallowed for offside against Wilkinson.
Western could not be silenced for long though. Three minutes after Wilkinson’s disallowed goal, a magnificent ball from Julia Sardo cut across a staggered Melbourne City defensive line and found the feet of Logarzo who tapped it past the keeper and found Keane, who scored again to give Western the lead back.
City picked up their intensity once more, mounting waves after waves of attack on the Western goals, desperate to equalise again. There were a number of good chances, but the final product just wasn’t there.
Just before the 80th minute, a great ball from Keane found the run of the tireless and ever-present Logarzo, who left her shot a little too late but still forced a diving save from Proulx. Unfortunately for City, they were unable to clear the ball before freshly substituted Khali Johnson took a fabulous shot from a tight angle and snuck it past the keeper. This would prove to be the nail in the coffin for Melbourne City.
Melbourne City will be disappointed with the loss, which prevented them from going 10 points clear at the top of the table. It’s probably worth noting that City were missing two keyplayers in Emina Ekić and Julia Grosso, who both usually carry a huge workload up front and in the midfield respectively. City’s standout player was Torpey, who bagged an assist and created a number of other huge chances. Besides her, City worked well as a team but they just weren’t clinical enough, and the lack of Ekić and Grosso really showed.
Western United on the other hand played great attacking football and were a lot more clinical. Western put in a high-quality team performance. Maher was solid in the backline. The entire midfield put in a very good shift. But the stars of the show were Logarzo and Keane. They have proven to be an absolute nightmare for Melbourne City. Including this match, Logarzo and Keane now have nine goal involvements between them against City (Keane with four goals and two assists; Logarzo with two goals and one assist). No doubt their faces will be haunting the dreams of the City defenders for some time to come.
Western United will host the Central Coast Mariners next Saturday, while Melbourne City will take on Canberra United away from home the day after on Sunday.
Teams: MELBOURNE CITY (5–3-2): Proulx, Torpey, Chinnama, Stott, Otto, Roestbakken, Galic, Hughes, Pollicina, Henry, Wilkinson. Substitutes: Barbieri, T. McKenna, Varley, Davidson, Karic.
Scorers: Wilkinson 32’.
WESTERN UNITED (4–3-3): Beall, Maher, Dakic, Cerne, Sardo, A. Taranto, Sawicki, Logarzo, Hieda, Keane, M. Taranto.Substitutes: Dall’Oste, Papadopoulos, Robers, Prakash, Johnson.
Scorers: Keane 28’, 53’, Johnson 79’.
Referee: Rebecca Durcau
Attendance: TBD.
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