By Alyce Collett 16/11/24
Above: Adelaide United celebrate a goal against Canberra United. Photo: Adelaide United
Canberra United 0-2 Adelaide United
Adelaide United have broken their duck against Canberra United, beating them for the first time in over two years.
A dominance in possession in the first half paired with goals from Emily Condon and Fiona Worts meant that the Reds had the ascendancy early, and did not let Canberra back into the match in the second half.
The first half was at times chaotic, but one thing that was consistent was that momentum was very much in the red corner.
Adelaide really dominated possession early, and although it took them over 10 minutes to get a goal, it felt like when not if those in red would eventually score.
The Reds did eventually take the lead after the Canberra defence was unable to confidently clear the ball, and Condon pounced to smash the ball into the bottom corner of the net. Condon continued to push for further scoring opportunities as the half progressed, really keeping the Canberra defence on their toes and was ably assisted by the likes of Worts and Lucía León.
Canberra did have brief moments of attacking potential, but just did not have the numbers to make anything happen. One thing that did not help the home side was that Maja Markovski was doing a lot of two way running, pushing back hard to help out the defence, which meant Canberra just did not have the numbers in attack and that meant Adelaide’s defenders were able to isolate Michelle Heyman and really quell her influence on the game. The home side was also too flatfooted at times in attack, which allowed Adelaide’s defence to pounce and intercept far too easily.
Adelaide eventually found a second goal with about 10 minutes to go in the half after Emily Hodgson snuck a pass passed Canberra’s defence to set up Worts in the box, who snuck a shot into the bottom corner to double the visitors’ lead.
Canberra almost responded moments after the restart, but Heyman’s subsequent shot went slightly wide.
The final few minutes of the half were rather chaotic.
Adelaide almost had a third goal for the half but Ella Tonkin’s goal was ultimately ruled offside, before Markovski missed an absolute sitter of a shot up the other end.
The half time stats really show how dominant Adelaide was in the first half.
The Reds held a solid lead in the passes (241 to 165) and held the ball in possession for almost 20% more of the half than their hosts. They only had five shots on goal though, but three of those were on target, which considering two of those were goals is quite impressive.
The other really interesting stat from the first half was around defence. Canberra recorded more tackles and more clearances, which considering how much more composed Adelaide were in defence compared to the hosts, this is not surprising.
The second half could not have been more different from the first.
Canberra started promisingly in the second half with aa number of chances from the likes of Markovski and half timesubstitute Jyanna Dos Santos, but the positioning of Adelaide’s defenders was really strong, and they were able to get their body perfectly in the way to block the Canberra shots.
Much of the second half was more end to end action and free flowing than the first half had been, with both sides having plenty of opportunities to score.
Adelaide did look the more likely of the two sides to score with their shots more on target than Canberra’s, but thanks to some brilliant saves from Sally James the Reds were unable to add to their tally. Canberra did have one really strong chance at a goal, but after a couple of deflections the Reds’ defence ultimately held strong to get the ball away.
Teams: CANBERRA UNITED (3-4-3): James, McKenzie, Anton, Murray, Stanic-Floody, Robers, Taylor-Young, Christopherson, Markovski, Bertolissio, Heyman. Substitutes: Dos Santos, Nathan, Majstorovic, Skelly, Malone.
ADELAIDE UNITED (4-3-3): Jenkins, E.Hodgson, Leon, Tolland, Tonkin, McNamara, Morgan, Dewey, Condon, Healy, Worts. Substitutes: Grove, Clarke, Grigg, Karambasis, Mullan.
Goals: Condon 11′, Worts 35’.
Attendance: 1,249.
Referee: Rebecca Durcau.
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