Western United remained unbeaten against Melbourne City in the Ninja A-League Women with a 1-1 draw at Ironbark Fields on Friday night.
Kahli Johnson put the Green and Black in front right before half-time, scoring her seventh goal of the season to jump to joint first place in the golden boot standings.
United created a couple of chances to extend the lead and held out defensively until Holly McNamara broke through in the final 10 minutes of play.
After a positive display, United will be eager to harness that momentum with a short turnaround ahead of the next match on Tuesday against Perth Glory.
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Kat Smith made three changes to her side, calling Adriana Taranto into the starting line-up for the first time since completing her ACL recovery.
Isabel Dehakiz came in at centre-back for the injured Claudia Mihocic while Sara Eggesvik made her return from injury to start in midfield. Emily Roach was managed and Keiwa Hieda and Avaani Prakash were recalled to the bench.
First half
Both sides settled well into the derby fixture, looking to get on the ball and create opportunities to score early on.
Neither side was leaving space for the opposition to exploit until City found the biggest chance of the opening period with Sasha Grove applying a timely goal-line clearance to deny Rhianna Pollicina.
With City intent on playing out of the back, United pressed effectively and won balls in good areas to swiftly turn defence into attack.
United’s back four was also alert to any danger with Grove dominating the left-hand side and Grace Maher and Dehakiz marshalling the defensive line from centre-back.
Johnson came closest for the hosts with a left-footed strike that flashed just over the crossbar before opening the scoring right on the stroke of half-time.
It came courtesy of some superb set-up work by Catherine Zimmerman, sizing up her defender and sending in a glorious delivery from the left wing.
Johnson arrived perfectly and cushioned a volley towards goal that slipped through Malena Mieres’ hands and was deemed to have crossed the line before she regathered it, giving United the lead to take into the break.
Second half
As a whole, it was a night of few chances at Ironbark Fields and that was particularly apparent in the second half as United looked to hold out against City’s advances for an equaliser.
Johnson remained the biggest attacking threat for the Green and Black and very nearly returned the favour to Zimmerman, clipping in a menacing-looking cross that her American teammate just couldn’t get meaningful contact on.
The Green and Black threatened from corners throughout the night and Dehakiz had a glancing effort that flashed wide, but City remained in the contest with the attacking quality in their ranks.
After coming off the bench at half-time, Holly McNamara popped up with the equaliser with a poked finish at the front post in the 83rd minute.
Western United did well to not be sunk by that late goal and looked the more likely of the two sides to find a late winner, but in the end United was forced to settle for an ultimately pleasing point.
