Western United scored another important three points on home soil, defeating Adelaide United 1-0 in a tight contest at City Vista on Sunday evening.
An indifferent first half was quickly rectified with a super second half performance as Keiwa Hieda opened the scoring soon after the restart.
It could well have been more as the Green and Black created a host of chances up front, but Hillary Beall and her defence remained resolute and one was all that was required to pick up the win.
Western United Team News
Kat Smith’s starting XI and substitutes bench was unchanged from last weekend’s defeat to Sydney FC as Chloe Logarzo led the team out as captain once again.
Hannah Keane remained on the bench as she continues to work her way back to full fitness, with Emma Robers and Keiwa Hieda making their third consecutive starts.
First Half
On home turf, Western United sought to set the tempo early and get the ball under control, looking to play forward and stretch Adelaide’s defence from the outset.
A seemingly extra slick pitch made it slippery underfoot and had the ball zipping away from players in possession as United struggled to execute that fast-paced gameplan.
The best chance in the opening stages was more of a half chance as Logarzo’s deep corner found Tyla Jay Vlajnic at the back post. The No.19 hooked a left-footed shot towards goal but it was blocked near enough to the goal line, ensuring there was no harm done.
United came much closer in the 25th minute when Hieda stole a march on Adelaide’s defence down the left-hand side before sliding her shot underneath the goalkeeper, but agonisingly onto the base of the post and away.
Adelaide were committing numbers forward and were frequently looking for the extra runner in behind United’s defence, looking to occupy the back four and send a spare runner over the top to collect the ball.
That put United on the back foot on a number of occasions as Adelaide beat the offside trap and brought pressure into the box, and the Reds thought they had the lead on the half hour mark.
Dylan Holmes whipped a right-footed in-swinging corner all the way into the net but the referee blew her whistle for a foul on Hillary Beall and the goal was chalked off.
Beall was soon in the action again, but not before Grace Maher made a brilliant intervention to stop a potential three-on-one breakaway in the box and clear her lines.
Adelaide finished the half the stronger of the two sides and Beall made an extraordinary save to keep it at 0-0 going into the break, sprawling to her left to tip Isabel Hodgson’s one-on-one effort around the post.
Second Half
Smith made two changes at the interval which prompted a tweak in the team shape. Natasha Dakic came on to form the centre of a back three, and Hannah Keane joined the action up front.
That change and the wind behind the team’s collective back prompted a fast start to the second half as Analee Grove was kept busy in the Adelaide goal, making two excellent saves to deny Logarzo and another two to deny Melissa Taranto and Jaclyn Sawicki.
Tyla Jay Vlajnic then fired inches wide from a free-kick delivered by Alana Cerne before the goal finally came to reward the Green and Black’s electric restart.
It was produced brilliantly from a throw-in on the left wing as the ball moved quickly from Logarzo to Sawicki to Hieda, who took an excellent touch to beat her defender, a second to set herself and a third to expertly blast her finish into the corner.
The Green and Black continued to swarm forward could’ve had a helping of goals by the hour mark but for some last ditching defending and quality goalkeeping.
Logarzo was behind a lot of the good work, demanding the ball and looking to get beyond Keane in the final third. One such instance saw her eyeball to eyeball with Grove but she lost her footing at the vital moment and couldn’t get a shot away.
It was a physically taxing match with challenges in from both sides and a reasonable wind to contend with, so United became happy with seeing out the remainder of the match with the clean sheet intact.
The addition of Dakic into a back three ensured the defence wasn’t so stretched on Adelaide’s balls in behind and the substitute, Cerne and Maher were able to avoid any major chances as the visitors pushed on.
It ended in a win that could have easily been more comfortable, but an important win nonetheless to shoot the Green and Black back up into third place on the table.
