Western United secured an incredible 2-1 win against Adelaide United to maintain its perfect record in the Liberty A-League Women through the first three rounds.
The Green and Black went toe to toe with Adelaide in hot conditions but fell behind early in the second half when Chelsie Dawber opened the scoring.
United continued to push for a way back into the game and pulled off a superb comeback, with Sydney Cummings equalising at the beginning of added time and Emma Robers finding the winner at the end of it.
The win ensures Western United move to outright top of the league with three wins from three ahead of the team’s first bye of the season next week.
Team News
As was the case for Round 2, Mark Torcaso made one change to the starting XI from the previous week with Francesca Iermano replacing Kahli Johnson, who dropped out with a minor knee injury.
Natasha Dakic and Aimee Medwin were both included in the matchday squad for the first time and hoped to make their Western United debuts off the bench.
First Half
Both sides grappled for early spells of possession, but the main concern of the opening minutes of the game was Western United defender Stacey Papadopoulos.
The No.2 fell heavily after challenging for a header and left the field on a stretcher. The Club will provide an additional update on her condition when appropriate.
Medwin came on at right-back as a result and made a vital interception at the back post in the 20th minute to divert a cross out for a corner.
Adelaide began to control more of the possession but United defended stoutly to keep out their advances.
United grew further into the game as the half wore on and created two half chances when Jessica McDonald sent a tantalising ball into the area, and Medwin nearly stole a march on Adelaide’s defence soon after but a heavy first touch allowed a recovery tackle to be made.
Second Half
Chloe Logarzo came on at half-time for the visitors and created an early opening for Hannah Keane who forced a sharp save from Adelaide’s goalkeeper as she cut inside from the left-hand side.
The game opened up at the beginning of the second half and it was a swift transition moment that gave Adelaide the lead.
After winning the ball on halfway, Dylan Holmes sent a long ball behind United’s defence and Dawber was able to finish into an open net after Hillary Beall and Alana Cerne failed to clear.
United had a deficit to chase and Robers nearly found an equaliser just after the hour when she swept a shot towards goal from long range, but the ball bounced just wide of the left-hand post.
The visitors turned up the pressure approaching the final 10 minutes and Medwin once again was in the thick of the action as she turned beautifully in traffic and fired a shot onto the crossbar.
Torcaso turned to a route one approach to find the equaliser just as the fourth official signalled for six minutes of injury time.
A long throw-in from McDonald was flicked on to Keane who laid an inviting ball back to Sydney Cummings, and the Guyana international fired a shot through a crowd and into the net via a deflection.
Just when it looked like United would be delighted to salvage a draw, Robers found a piece of magic to win the game in the dying seconds.
After Chloe Logarzo’s deep corner was cleared to the edge of the area, Robers stepped onto the loose ball and thumped a sweet left-footed volley that flew past the goalkeeper and earned Western United a stunning comeback win.
