Western United 4-2 Canberra United
by Ryan Miller-Woods (1/3/24).
Above: Western United hat-trick hero Hannah Keane shows her joy after scoring today. Photo: Western United.
Western United solidified their lead at the top of the A-League Women’s ladder with a 4-2 win against Canberra United at City Vista Recreation Reserve to extend their winning run to six matches.
The home side had the perfect start as Hannah Keane opened the scoring in just 12 seconds as she powered her shot from outside the box past Canberra goalkeeper Coco Majstorovic into the bottom right corner for her seventh goal of the season. Surely one of the quickest goals ever scored in the A-League/W-League.
Canberra’s afternoon didn’t get much better as in the ninth minute Ava Piazza brought down Keane in the box and Western was awarded a penalty. Chloe Logarzo slotted the ball into the right corner for her ninth goal of the season to double the Victorian side’s lead.
Four minutes later, it got better still. Logarzo floated a beautiful cross into the box which found Keane whose header went into the top left corner for her side’s third goal of the match. This 14-minute period despite having had less possession personified just how good Western have looked and played under Kat Smith since her appointment in December.
As the first half progressed despite Canberra having had the majority of possession, the home side really controlled the flow of the match after the first 25 minutes. While Canberra slowly got into the match as the half progressed, they didn’t really look to be able to break through. Indeed, there were a few more chances for Western United to further extend their lead.
Within the first four minutes of the second half, Canberra brought the deficit down to two thanks to Deven Jackson, who from outside the box blasted her shot into the bottom right corner for her second goal of the season with a great strike. Credit also has to go to Ruby Nathan who laid off the crucial pass which set up the goal.
Just before the hour mark, Western almost scored another goal thanks to Emma Robers who provided a through ball for Aimee Medwin into the box who despite being on an angle, still hit the target with the ball coming off the crossbar to find Logarzo at the centre of the box who missed a great opportunity of scoring with an open goal as her shot went over the bar.
Seven minutes later, it was four for the home side thanks to an integral pass by former Canberra legend Grace Maher for Keane. The latter controlled the ball with ease as she made her run into the box and curled her shot into the bottom right corner to seal her hat-trick.
However, there was still time for Michelle Heyman to bookend a fairytale week with yet another goal – her sixth in as many days. The legend’s shot from outside of the box sealed and Heyman’s 13th goal of the season.
Despite more heroics from Heyman, it couldn’t take away from another superb display from Western United, who regardless of results in other matches this weekend will remain top of the pile.
Teams: WESTERN UNITED (4-2-3-1): Larsen, Robers, Medwin, Cerne, Papadopoulos, M. Taranto, Maher, A. Taranto, Logarzo, Hieda, Keane. Substitutes: Dall’Oste, Dakic, Sardo, Prakash, Zimmerman.
Scorers: Keane 1’, 14’, 63, Logarzo 10’.
CANBERRA UNITED (4-3-3): Majstorovic, Piazza, McKenzie, Clark, Ilijoski, Stanic-Floody, Jackson, Nathan, Flannery, Rojas, Christopherson, Flannery. Substitutes: Ritchie, Murray, Whittall, Milivojevic, Heyman.
Scorers: Jackson 49’, Heyman 90+5’.
Referee: Isabella Libri.
Attendance: 574.
Follow Impetus ’71 on social media –
Twitter (X): @impetusfootball and @impetus71 TikTok: @Impetus71 Facebook: @Impetus71
Instagram: @Impetus_71 Threads: @Impetus_71
impetusfootball.org 