Brisbane Roar 0-4 Melbourne City
By Alyce Collett 26/3/25
Above: Melbourne City. Photo: A League.
Melbourne City’s undefeated A League Women’s season is still in tact after they defeated Brisbane Roar 4-0 tonight in their rescheduled match from a couple of weeks ago.
City really showed their class, and really opened things up in the second half with goals to Holly McNamara, Bryleeh Henry and Mariana Speckmaier after Taylor Otto opened the scoring early in the first half.
Melbourne City initially dominated possession, but almost brought themselves undone when one bad pass in defence – which has been a bit of an issue for them this season – was pounced on by Tameka Yallop, but fortunately for City the subsequent goal attempts were unsuccessful.
However, City did not have to wait long to eventually get on the board, getting a goal on the board inside 10 minutes. It was messy at times, but eventually Otto tapped the ball in past several Brisbane defenders to convert a TJ Vlajnić corner.
Despite the early goal, it did not feel like there was a change in momentum as the match remained pretty open and free flowing.
One thing that City did do really well though was regularly be in the right place in the right time to pinch possession off their hosts, so at times it felt like there were more City players on the pitch than Roar ones.
It was a very entertaining and at times fiery first half, but in the end Otto’s goal was all that separated the teams at the break.
The even, free flowing nature of the first half continued into the second, as the match was free flowing and full of end to end action.
For City, Lourdes Bosch was looking really dangerous out on the right wing, while for the Roar, Momo Hayashi was really dangerous through the centre corridor, not afraid to show off how much power she has in her shooting game.
City eventually did themselves a second goal at about the 70 minute mark when McNamara beautifully struck the ball first touch from the top of the box, straight into the back of the net.
City’s defence was really on show in the second half, really neutralising the Brisbane attackers. Combine that with Brisbane’s going offside problem and Brisbane rarely looked even close to scoring, despite how hard Yallop, Hayashi and Emily Pringle were working.
City were not done scoring though, as Henry added to the tally with about two minutes of regulation time to go after pinching the ball off Brisbane defender Isabella Hoyos, steaming towards goal and converting.
Speckmaier put the full stop on the evening after converting a Leticia McKenna cross with less than half a minute left in extra time.
The really telling full time stats were around the shots each side managed to get away.
City had double the number of shots the Roar did (22 to 11) and had nine more shots on target than their hosts (13 to four. City also took most of their shots inside the box (15 to one), while Brisbane took most of its shots outside the box (10 to seven).
Teams: BRISBANE ROAR (3-4-2-1): Richards, Blissett, Hoyos, McQueen, Hayashi, Kruger, Kuilamu, de la Harpe, L. Freier, Yallop, Popadinova. Substitutes: Cuthbert, Gibbon,Morris, Pringle, Woods.
MELBOURNE CITY (4-2-3-1): Mieres, Roestbakken, Stott, Otto, Vlajnic, Davidson, Hughes, Bosch, McMahon, Speckmaier, McNamara. Substitutions: Apostolakis, Barbieri, Henry, McKenna, Pollicina.
Scorers: Otto 9’, McNamara 70’, Henry 89’, Speckmaier90+5’
Referee: Rachael Mitchenson
Attendance: TBC
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