Melbourne City 1 Canberra United 2

Melbourne City was sent to its first ever defeat in the short history of the club after being defeated 2-1 at home by Canberra United on Saturday.

Canberra hit the lead early in the second half courtesy of Jenna McCormick (49’), before new American signing Beverly Yanez equalised minutes later (58’). 15-year-old Karly Roestbakken was the hero for United when she scored the winning goal (84’).

After a goalless first half, Michelle Heyman and Ashleigh Sykes looked the stronger for Canberra, while Erika Tymrak and Jess Fishlock were combining well for City.

McCormick opened the scoring four minutes into the second half as her header cannoned off the crossbar past Lydia Williams.

Yanez was in for her second game and scored her first goal for the club after Fishlock and Tymrak helped the American to equalise.

Nicky Flannery’s through ball to Roestbakken sealed the upset and created history to send City to its first loss in W-League history.

City defender Laura Alleway felt the loss was a blessing in disguise.

“I think this is probably going to be a good thing for us, it’s been fairly smooth sailing coming into this year yet to drop any points,” Alleway said.

“If anything I think it’ll be a positive thing and it’ll shake us up a little, so we’ll go back to the dropping board and work hard.                    

Sykes took out the best on ground award at full-time and said City was still the team to beat.

“It’s pretty good, let alone it’s Melbourne City, we had a tough draw against Adelaide United last week, so we wanted to get a win this weekend to get our season back on track,” Sykes said.

“It’s just a bonus against City they’re the biggest scalp in the league at the moment and I think they’ll continue to be.”

City now travel to Popondetta Park next Sunday to meet Western Sydney Wanderers away while Canberra fly to Gosford to play Brisbane Roar in the W-League/A-League double header.

Referee: Katie Patterson

Melbourne City: Lydia Williams (gk), Teigen Allen, Lauren Barnes, Laura Alleway, Steph Catley (c), Jess Fishlock, Erika Tymrak (Melina Ayres 78’), Rebekah Stott, Amy Jackson, Beverly Yanez, Marianna Tabain (Aivi Luik 69’)

Canberra United: Trudy Burke (gk), Yukari Kinga, Jenna McCormick, Ellie Brush, Grace Maher, Michelle Heyman (c), Hannah Brewer, Celeste Boureille, Ashleigh Sykes, Nickoletta Flannery (Clare Hunt 92’), Stephanie Ochs (Karly Roestbakken 46’)

Brisbane Roar 3 Adelaide United 2

Brisbane Roar nearly squandered a three goal lead to Adelaide United with the final score finishing 3-2 at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday.

In front of 4,515 people, goals from Katrina Gorry (4’), Tameka Butt (12’) and Allira Toby (49’) gave the Roar a healthy lead as the Reds pulled two goals back through Adriana Jones (59’) and Sofia Huerta (74’) but it was not enough to salvage a point.

Brisbane was on the front foot straight away, Emily Gielnik teed up Matilda Gorry whose shot from outside the box evaded Eliza Campbell.

Gorry was involved again eight minutes later when her cross found national teammate Butt in the box to double the lead for the Roar.

Four minutes into the second half the Roar women looked like they were home as Madlyn Evans’ through ball was crisp to find Toby who made it 3-0 for the hosts.

Brisbane continued to attack, but against the flow Jones pulled a goal back on the hour mark to keep the Roar on its toes.

In the 73rd minute Clare Polkinghorne brought down Huerta in the box who elected to take the penalty herself and the Mexican had no trouble converting.

United had a corner in the 96th minute, but to no avail as Roar took the three points and look to meet Canberra away next Sunday.

Adelaide United will face off against Perth Glory at home next Saturday.

Referee: Casey Reibelt

Brisbane Roar: Mackenzie Arnold (gk), Nina Frausing-Pedersen (Allira Toby 46’), Amy Chapman, Clare Polkinghorne (c), Angela Beard, Kaitlyn Torpey (Brooke Spence 84’), Katrina Gorry (Maili Forbes 94’), Tameka Butt, Summer O’Brien, Emily Gielnik, Madlyn Evans

Adelaide United: Eliza Campbell (gk), Georgia Iannella (Dragana Kljajic 73’), Emily Hodgson, Stella Rigon (c) (Ally Ladas 53’), Marijana Rajcic, Sofia Huerta, Adriana Jones, Georgia Campagnale, Isabella Scalzi, Danielle Colaprico, Katie Naughton

Melbourne Victory 2 Western Sydney Wanderers 2

Melbourne Victory have picked up its first point for the 2016/17 W-League season after a 2-2 draw to Western Sydney Wanderers at Lakeside Stadium on Sunday.

An opening own goal to Wanderers goalkeeper Jada Whyman (2’) saw the home side go into the break in front before Sarah Yatim equalised after the hour mark (61’). Kariah White looked to have stolen a winner (84’), before American Katie Stengel (91’) spoiled the day for Victory.

Annabel Martin’s cross in the second minute ricocheted off Angelique Hristodoulou hitting Whyman on route to goal to place Victory in front.

The Wanderers could have equalised five minutes later as second-choice goalkeeper Beth Mason-Jones crashed into Erica Halloway in the box. The penalty was taking by Stengel, but denied by the youngster.

Four minutes into the second half Alex Natoli kept her team in it after clearing a Stengel shot off the line.

The Red and Black would get its equaliser at the hour mark after Halloway’s cross found Yatim in the box to level the scores.

With six minutes remaining White’s poor cross paid dividends after the ball sailed into the back of Whyman’s net.

It looked like Victory would get the win, however Stengel finally claimed her goal at the 91st minute. Moments later she could have won the game for the Wanderers as she was one-on-one with Mason-Jones but came off second best.

Victory coach Jeff Hopkins praised Mason-Jones, but lamented the second half performance collectively.

“The penalty decision itself was quite questionable. But Beth got up and she made a great save actually, wasn’t a bad penalty.” Hopkins said.

“The lateness of the equaliser, the performance in the second half, we could see it was coming at times.

“We had a few spells in the second half but in the end our defensive structure wasn’t really good enough…. looking at the performance, it wasn’t a great performance to be honest.”

Wanderers young defender Ellie Carpenter believed they wasted their chances and felt they could have won.

 “I think we recovered well from the first half, we just couldn’t get it in the back of the net which was frustrating, but that second half I thought we needed to be more clinical in the front third,” Carpenter said.

“We’ve been creating a lot of chances in the front third, our downfall is our finishing.”

Victory travel to McDonald Jones Stadium next Friday night in a double header spectacle to meet Newcastle Jets while the Wanderers host City at home on Sunday.

Referee: Kate Jacewicz

Melbourne Victory: Bethany Mason-Jones (gk), Alexandra Natoli, Alexandra Cheal, Annabel Martin, Lia Privitelli (Kariah White 50’), Natasha Dowie, Christine Nairn, Melindaj Barbieri (Adriana Taranto 68’), Laura Spiranovic (Alexandra Gummer 73’), Gulcan Koca, Kirsty Yallop

Western Sydney Wanderers: Jada Whyman (gk), Caitlin Cooper (c), Chloe O’Brien (Alix Roberts 71’), Helen Petinos (Sarah Yatim 56’), Kendall Fletcher, Erica Halloway, Katie Stengel, Paige Nielsen, Alexis Arlitt, Ellie Carpenter, Angelique Hristodoulou

Perth Glory 1 Sydney FC 0

Perth Glory downed Sydney FC 1-0 at Dorrien Gardens with the only goal scored by captain Samantha Kerr (18’).

The Sky Blues had a golden opportunity to top the table after Melbourne City’s maiden defeat in the W-League but wasted their chances.

Shawn Billam’s little dink was perfect to Kerr who placed the ball beautifully in the top corner to put the Glory up 1-0 in the 18th minute.

Sydney could have equalised minutes later with teenager Remy Siemsen who looked through, but was snuffed out by Gabrielle Dal Busco.

Kerr looked in good form at the half hour mark and squandered an opportunity when her shot just went wide of the post.

Perth’s skipper continued to surge forward and looked through only to be called centimetres offside with 30 minutes remaining in the game.

In the 79th minute Dal Busco had little to do, but stepped up incercepting a dangerous ball into the box.

At full-time the Glory claimed its third win of the season and travel to Adelaide next week while Sydney FC enjoy a bye.

Referee: Rachel Mitchenson

Perth Glory: Gabrielle Dal Busco (gk), Sarah Carroll, Kim Carroll, Alyssa Mautz, Nicole Stanton, Shawn Billam (Jaymee Gibbons 85’), Rosie Sutton, Vanessa DiBernardo, Natasha Rigby, Sam Kerr, Arianna Romero

Sydney FC: Sham Khamis (gk), Teresa Polias (c), Remy Siemsen (Princess Ibini 75’), Liz Ralston, Servet Uzunlar, Nicola Bolger, Natalie Tobin (Olivia Price 58’), Georgia Yeoman-Dale, Alanna Kennedy, Kyah Simon, Leena Khamis