Canberra United 1-0 Perth Glory
by Ben Gilby (1/2/25)
Above: Liz Anton (right) celebrates her winning goal with Maja Markovski. Photo: Canberra United.
Liz Anton’s close range effort 11 minutes into the second half was enough to claim victory for Canberra United over her former side Perth Glory at McKellar Park today.
Whilst it was Perth who had by far the better of the opportunities (16 shots on goal to Canberra’s three), the home team were able to make theirs pay to deliver an important three points.
The Glory went into the game on the back of last weekend’s last-gasp 3-2 win over Brisbane Roar but also had to cope with the news that influential midfielder Georgia Cassidy had joined the long injury list that head coach Stephen Peters is having to manage.
On the positive side of the ledger, Sarah O’Donoghue returned on the bench after her own spell on the treatment table. It was a game that Perth knew they needed to win in order to maintain hopes of Finals football against one of their potential rivals for a spot in the six.
After both sides engaged in an early arm-wrestle to establish a foothold in the game, the first-half chance finally came in the 25th minute when the visitors’ co-captain Izzy Dalton sent a free-kick in from the left-hand edge of the box that curled across viciously before dipping late to only just clear the crossbar.
Four minutes before the break, Perth created another opportunity when Dalton found Wynne outside her on the right flank. The Welsh international’s low cross bounced just past the near post, helping it to elude the Canberra defence, allowing it to fall for Nat Tathem at the back.
Her shot rebounded up off of Alex McKenzie, but home keeper Sally James was unable to claim allowing Tathem a second bite at the cherry which was cleared.
Those opportunities for the visitors came and went, and 11 minutes into the second half, Canberra made them pay with their only shot on target across the 90 minutes.
Emma Robers floated a corner in from the right high to the near post amidst heavy traffic which made life extremely tough for Casey Dumont in the Glory goal. She did well to get a hand to the ball, but it fell for New Zealand international Anton to turn home from close range at the second attempt.
Perth tried to hit back, and with just over 20 minutes remaining came close once more. Tijan McKenna, who once more showed why centre-midfield is her best position with an impressive display of vision and ball playing ability, played in a corner from the right which was met by Onyi Zogg at the near post around the six-yard box with a first-time shot on the turn which was pushed onto the post by James before her defence tidied up.
With eight minutes remaining, Michelle Heyman, who started on the bench showed her danger with a flash of brilliance. Played through from a long ball towards the right, the Matildas’ striker held off two defenders and unleashed a shot from just outside the box with the outside of her foot that just went over the top.
This was a match that Perth will feel they should have taken points from, but the outcome now ends any realistic hopes that they have of making the top six, with the Western Australians now eight points behind.
However, for Canberra, this was a hugely important win in the battle for Finals where every point matters. The capital city side are deep in the mix for a place in the six, as one of five sides separated by just four points between fourth and eighth.
Teams: CANBERRA UNITED (4-3-3): James, Taylor-Young, Christopherson, Anton, Bertolissio, Robers, McKenzie, Gordon, Markovski, Stanic-Floody, Malone. Substitutes: Heyman, Keane, Majstorovic, Nathan, dos Santos.
Scorer: Anton 56′.
PERTH GLORY (4-3-3): Dumont, Johnston, Chinnama, Zogg, Folletta, Tathem, Wainwright, McKenna, Doeglas, Dalton, Wynne. Substitutes: Abdul-Massih, Anderson, O’Donoghue, Sunaga, Templeman.
Referee: Georgia Ghirardello.
Attendance: 1,807.
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