Sydney FC 3-2 Brisbane Roar
by Emma Burke (2/3/25)
Above: Sydney FC’s Indiana Dos Santos, Mackenzie Hawkesby, and Shay Hollman celebrate during their win over Brisbane Roar today. Photo: A-Leagues.
Sydney FC have secured just their third win of the season after defeating Brisbane Roar in a 3-2 thriller at Leichhardt Oval.
The home side opened the scoring early through Mackenzie Hawkesbury, whose long range effort beat out a diving Olivia Sekany in goal.
Brisbane were then struck by an unfortunate injury to their starting keeper when Sekany came out minutes late to collect a cross and landed awkwardly, clutching her knee. It led her to be stretchered off the pitch and replaced by Keely Richards.
The equaliser was found for Brisbane through Laini Freier on her return from international duty with the Matildas.
Freier found herself on the end of a loose pass out from the back and took her chance after seeing Sydney keeper Bethany Mason-Jones off her line, launching the ball from outside the box, chipping the Sky Blues’ custodian.
The Roar then extended their lead through Brazilian star Mariel Hecher, her first for the season.
A cheeky backheel shot on goal from 17 year old, Grace Kuilamu, bounced off the keeper, but Hecher was perfectly placed to collect the rebound and send the ball into the back of the net.
Despite having a 2-1 lead, Brisbane let the game slip away from them, when a dangerous free kick was directly converted by Sydney captain Nat Tobin from 35 yards out, leveling the scores only five minutes later.
The game winner came to Sydney FC through Shea Connors, also her first goal for this season, when she set up a clever play between herself and Maddie Caspers.
Connors played Caspers in wide inside the box, luring Richards out from her position in goal, so Caspers’ cutback to Connors left her with a near empty net to fire into.
Despite all of this, however, Sydney FC still remain last on the ladder, with three points from the win not being enough to take them out of 12th position, while Brisbane Roar remain in fifth, just within a finals berth.
Teams: SYDNEY FC (4-3-3): Mason-Jones, Tumeth, Thompson, Tobin, Lemon, Caspers, Hollman, Dos Santos, Ibini, Hawkesby, Tallon-Henniker. Substitutes: Connors, Farrow, Black, Bryson, Johnson.
Scorers: Hawkesby 31’, Tobin 67’, Connors 72’.
BRISBANE ROAR (3-4-3): Sekany, McQueen, Hoyos, De la Harpe, Kinsella, Woods, Kruger, Pringle, Freier, Kuilamu, Hecher. Substitutes: Richards, Morris, Tan, Hayashi, Levin.
Scorers: Freier 50’, Hecher 61’.
Referee: Caitlin Williams
Attendance: 1,441.
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