W-League Round 6 Wrap: 10-woman Roar retain the lead and season two golden boot winner Michelle, Heyman, signals her intentions to make it two in a row.
Three first-half goals ensured that league leaders Roar Women secured the three points when they downed Adelaide 3-1 this weekend, despite going down to 10 players for half the match. Karla Reuter was sent off in the 30th minute for lashing out at her opposition, but Roar's win never appeared in doubt.
Roar's first goal came from a set piece just five minutes in, with Kim Carroll getting on the end of a floating free kick. It looked as though it was just the start of Roar's goals, with the team carving up Adelaide's defence and Elise Kellond-Knight's powerful shot forcing goalkeeper Kristi Harvey into a save.
Win-less Adelaide were hampered by the suspension of tenacious midfielder and playmaker Katrina Gorry, but looked more competitive than in previous weeks. They equalised after some solid build up between Rachel Quigley, Victoria Balomenos, and Selin Kurulay, with the latter finishing the play.
The level scores were short lived, though, with Kellond-Knight's efforts paying off to put Roar 2-1 ahead. Roar went down to 10 women soon afterwards, but quickly regrouped and the recently returned Lauren Colthorpe converted Kellond-Knight's free kick to make the score an unassailable 3-1.
Super sub Lisa de Vanna almost made it 4-1 in the dying moments of the game (with her last-gasp goalscoring starting to become a habit) when she shed her defence and unleashed a shot. Goalkeeper Harvey managed to save it, though, and the Roar returned to Brisbane with a two-goal margin and a one-point ladder lead.
Speaking of leads, Michelle Heyman slotted in her sixth goal of the season to claim the outright lead for the golden boot. The 36th-minute goal against Newcastle proved the difference in a tightly contested match, and helped Canberra maintain their unbeaten season three record.
Heyman and Emily van Egmond proved a troublesome combination for Newcastle, with van Egmond setting up Heyman for the goal and then almost repeating the efforts shortly afterwards. Heyman sprayed her second shot, though, and Newcastle, who have traditionally conceded to Canberra at home, pushed to find an equaliser.
Hannah Brewer had Newcastle's best chance of the game, but her shot sailed agonisingly close and up and over the crossbar. Newcastle now head into their second bye of the season, before returning to play early in the new year.
Returning from a bye, Sydney also returned to their winning form with an assured 2-0 victory over Perth Glory in Wollongong. A goal-less first half couldn't separate the teams, but Sydney, determined to recapture the W-League lead or at least stay hot on Roar's heels, piled on two goals in the second. They dominated possession and, despite some decent chances going Perth's way 15 minutes into the half, it was Sydney who came away with the spoils.
Kylie Ledbrook forced Perth goalkeeper Tine Cederkvist into a desperate, one-handed save, and Ledbrook, Kyah Simon, and Teigan Allen continued to test Cederkvist's reflexes. Samantha Kerr and Kate Gill, who are proving a strong combination, almost snatched a goal for Perth through sustained attacks, but it was Leena Khamis, whose specialty is scoring with headers, got on the end of a Lydia Vandenbergh pass and beat the keeper in the air.
Kyah Simon would have stacked on Sydney's second goal a minute later at point-blank range but for an heroic diving stop by Perth captain Tanya Oxtoby. The speedy Kerr surged forward in the 70th, but her shot was directed at Sydney goalkeeper Dimi Poulos, who contained it easily before releasing her team mates on a fast counter attack. Allen capitalised on a momentary lapse in defensive concentration to set up Simon, who tapped in the ball from five metres out to give Sydney their second goal.
The weekend's results mark the halfway mark in the season, with Roar, Sydney, and Canberra separated by just a point each at the top end of the table.
