Sydney FC 2-0 Perth Glory
by Ben Gilby (15/11/25)
Above: Riley Tanner on the ball for Sydney FC against Perth Glory today. Photo: Sydney FC.
Sydney FC recorded their first win of the A-League Women season thanks to second-half strikes from Bianca Galić and Riley Tanner.
Ante Jurić’s side’s success at Leichhardt Oval this afternoon also ensured that they were the first team this season to keep a clean sheet against a Glory side that had scored five goals in their opening two fixtures.
It was Perth’s second trip to Sydney in the opening three rounds of the competition, and once again, they were forced to experience a delay of an hour due to lightning – this time after 57 minutes of the action.
Sydney, who drew their opening two games against Melbourne City and Adelaide United, made three changes to the starting line-up from last week’s trip to South Australia, with Tiahna Robertson coming in for Heather Hinz in goal, Abbey Lemon replacing Madison Ayson, and Maddy Caspers stepping up for Amber Luchtmeijer.
Perth Glory boss Stephen Peters had just one change to make with Susan Phonsongkham coming in for Gabby Hollar, who was on the bench.
The home side gained the game’s first opportunity with nine minutes played as Lemon got to the ball fastest in the middle of the park ahead of Tijan McKenna to feed Tanner on the left. Quick footwork allowed the Panamanian to escape from Julia Sardo and earn the space to hit a shot, which flew into the side netting.
The angle was acute, and Sydney had four players in the box, two of whom were unmarked at the time of the shot. Had Tanner taken a different option, the outcome may have been different.
Mackenzie Hawkesby came closer still for Sydney on the quarter hour as Glory defender Onyi Zogg lost possession 25 yards from goal, allowing the attacker to step into the space and lift a shot narrowly over the top.
However, Perth almost made the Harbour City side rue those missed opportunities just seven minutes later as Phonsongkham supplied Emma Tovar from the right. The Glory midfielder got the better of two Sydney defenders to fire in a low shot that came back off of the far post and rebounded for Grace Johnston to lift a first time effort that Robertson held.
The Western Australians upped the ante and Phonsongkham was involved again shortly afterwards, as a viciously curling free-kick from the right flank was pushed away by Robertson at the near post. From the resulting corner, Julia Sardo, closely marked by two, got up highest to directed a header narrowly over the top.
Despite these chances for both sides, it took until eight minutes after the break for the first goal to come.
A crossfield ball over the top found Tanner out on the left. She cut in, beat Johnson and Sardo to play a low pass for Galić to hit a first time shot home from just outside the six-yard box.
With lightning rumbling around the area, the players would be forced from the pitch.
As the game approached the hour mark, Hawkesby showed great skill to flick the ball over Zogg in the centre of the park, ran into the space left by the Glory defender for Caspers to exploit. The attacker beat Naomi Chinnama and accelerated away to hit a effort from the edge of the box that Alyssa Dall’Oste did well to flick away from the top of the net.
The home side were really stepping up the intensity now, and made the game safe with 20 minutes remaining. Sardo lost possession on the edge of the Perth penalty area which allowed Hawkesby to take up the ball in a central position before threading a low pass that dissected two defenders and reach Tanner. The Panama international placed a low shot into the right hand corner of the net from around 15 yards.
Hawkesby, who had a superb afternoon pulling the strings created Sydney’s final chance of the game with a quarter of an hour remaining. Another perfectly threaded pass, which took defenders out of the game in a central position, played in Amalia Cassar, and the 17-year-old’s powerful effort from the right hand edge of the box was repelled excellently by Dall’Oste.
After opening the campaign with back-to-back draws, this victory from Sydney FC underlined their potential. The creativity and intensity of ball playing ability was so impressive to watch at times. There’s no question they are back as a serious contender after last season’s trials and tribulations.
For Perth, this was always going to be a challenge, but they have showed offensively what they are capable of, and with better luck in the first half would have put themselves in with a strong chance of getting something from this match.
Next week’s trip to Canberra is now an important one. A second away win, something the Western Australians are more than capable of achieving now, would restore them to the upper echelons of the league. But the capital city club will be targeting this one for their first win of the campaign. As it always is when purple goes toe-to-toe with green, a heck of a battle awaits.
Sydney will going out to make another statement of their renewed status when they host a Central Coast Mariners side who are nearer the foot of the table than they would like this early into their defence of the title.
Teams: SYDNEY FC (4-3-3): Robertson, Tumeth, Fenton, Pearson, Lemon, Galić, Hunter, Caspers, Cassar, Hawkesby, Tanner. Substitutes: Halmarick, Oppedisano, Rose, Ulkekul, Sullivan, Tallon-Henniker.
Scorers: Galić 53′, Tanner 70′.
PERTH GLORY (3-4-1-2): Dall’Oste, Chinnama, Zogg, Sardo, Johnston, Dalton, Tovar, McKenna, Phonsongkham, O’Donoghue, Badawiya. Substitutes: Anderson, Skinner, Hollar, Lincoln, Trew, Wainwright.
Referee: Georgia Ghiradello.
Attendance: 2,122.
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