Melbourne Victory 2-0 Canberra United
By Alyce Collett 9/3/25
Above: Holly Furphy (left) following her goal for Victory Photo: Melbourne Victory
Melbourne Victory has moved back into second spot on the A-League Women’s ladder after a 2-0 win over Canberra United this afternoon.
After a pretty even first half, the Victory asserted some dominance and control over the game in the second half, and with goals to Holly Furphy and Emily Gielnik the Victory picked up their 11th win of the season.
The game was so even early it was really hard to establish who had the momentum.
Initially Canberra had the more threatening attacking plays, but eventually it was Victory who racked up the attempts that were closest to resulting in a goal, eventually going within inches of scoring off a corner.
Players like Rachel Lowe and Jyanna Dos Santos were trying their hardest in attack for their respective sides, but both sides defences – particularly the likes of Kayla Morrison, Claudia Bunge, Elizabeth Anton and Madison Ayson – really stood tall and made sure no one’s attacking plays became successful.
As the half progressed, the Victory continued to rack up more time on the ball than Canberra, but Canberra’s well positioned defence meant that none of their attacking moves amounted to much.
Canberra certainly had plenty of attacking play, but the visitors’ attacking plays always petered out further away from goal than Victory’s did.
In the end it was an entertaining first half, but it did not result in any goals.
The first half stats told an interesting tale.
Victory had 20% more of the possession than Canberra, but only three more shots than their visitors, with both sides having a single shot on target.
In an at times scrappy start to the second half, the passing accuracy from both sides was a bit down from the first half but the shot on goal accuracy improved as both sides had shots go within inches of going into the back of the net.
Melbourne Victory almost had the first goal of the match in the 68th minute, but unfortunately for the home side Kayla Morrison was offside when she took her shot.
They did not have to wait too much longer to actually get a goal on the board, wth Furphy slotting a shot in the back of the net from the tightest of angles to give Victory the lead a couple of minutes later.
Victory found themselves a second goal with about eight minutes of regular time left after Gielnik headed home an Alana Murphy corner perfectly.
The two goals had definitely swung momentum Victory’s way, but some in the Canberra side refused to give up. Particularly the likes of Hayley Taylor-Young, who really impressed out on the left wing, and had a shot to really test Courtney Newbon in the Victory goals in extra time.
However as hard as the likes of Taylor-Young were working it was ultimately in vain as Canberra proved unable to find the back of the net.
Teams: MELBOURNE VICTORY (4-3-3): Newbon, Bunge, Murphy, Chidiac, Flannery, D’Appolonia, Gielnik, Morrison, Lowe, Pickett, Jancevski. Substitutes: Wilson, O’Grady, Furphy, Young, Candy.
Scorer: Furphy 70’, Gielnik 83’
CANBERRA UNITED (3–5–2): James, Anton, Ayson, Dos Santos, Robers, Taylor-Young, Markovski, Keane, Malone,Bertolissio, Gordon. Substitutes: Majstorovic, Murray, Stanic-Floody, Christopherson, Heyman.
Referee: Bec Mackie
Attendance: TBC
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