Melbourne City overcame a half time deficit for the third time this season as we secured another important win, getting the better of Canberra United by an eventual scoreline of 4-2 at AAMI Park on Sunday night.
Kathryn Harvey, Laura Hughes and Leticia McKenna were all on the scoresheet on a night that saw Holly McNamara return from injury and make her first appearance in over a year.
Team News
Michael Matricciani was set to make just one change to his XI with Leah Davidson returning from international duty, but preparations went out the window at the last minute due to illness sweeping through the squad.
Kathryn Harvey was added back to the starting line-up as Rhianna Pollicina dropped out of the squad, while Shelby McMahon was removed from the bench and both Emilia Murray and Lourdes Bosch were added.
Starting XI: 24. Malena MIERES (GK), 8. Alexia APOSTOLAKIS, 13. Rebekah STOTT (C), 5. Taylor OTTO, 16. Karly ROESTBAKKEN, 14. Laura HUGHES, 18. Leah DAVIDSON, 6. Leticia McKENNA, 22. Bryleeh HENRY, 17. Mariana SPECKMAIER, 7. Kathryn HARVEY.
Substitutes: 23. Melissa BARBIERI (GK), 9. Holly McNAMARA, 11. Emilia MURRAY, 19. Lourdes BOSCH, 27. Tyla-Jay VLAJNIC.
What happened?
Despite City controlling the early stages, a quick counterattack was all it took for Michelle Heyman to open the scoring in the 12th minute.
Although we dominated possession as we’ve come to expect over the years, there were little attacking opportunities created across the entirety of the first half.
Mariana Speckmaier and Bryleeh Henry tried hard on the wings, but a clinical edge was missing as we went into the sheds with the 1-0 deficit remaining.
The second half was a completely different story though with just two minutes needed to level things up.
Some chaos in the box saw Davidson and Speckmaier both go close to scoring, but it was Harvey who would eventually pop up for a looping header into the back of the net.
More chaos saw us take the lead less than 15 minutes later, although this time around it was courtesy of an own goal with an unfortunate deflection for Maja Markovski ending in her own net after an Alexia Apostolakis corner.
AAMI Park rose as one in the 72nd minute as the fourth official raised the board with the number 9 displayed in green, Holly McNamara subbed on to make her long-awaited return from injury.
After netting her first City goal just a handful of weeks ago, Laura Hughes was next to get in on the scoring fun in the 77th minute.
The freshly capped Matilda pounced on an errant pass and quickly spotted Sally James off her line, making things look easy with a delicate chipped finish.
A second goal of the night for Heyman pulled things back to 3-2 as we ticked into added time, but our dynamic attack quickly responded to ensure there would be no need for us to be on the edge of our seats.
McKenna, Bosch and McNamara were all involved in a move that was very easy on the eye.
McNamara was just inches away from scoring on return, her effort hitting the post only for McKenna to be in the perfect spot to tuck it over the line from a metre out and secure a hard-earnt win.
What’s next?
A short turnaround is ahead as we gear up to travel to Adelaide to face the Reds in Friday night football.
Following that trip, we’ll return to Melbourne for our final home game of the year against Wellington Phoenix on Saturday 28 December.
