Melbourne City ramped up their preparation for the upcoming A-League Women’s season with a 3-0 win over arch-rivals Melbourne Victory in a pre-season friendly at the Home of the Matildas.
With the return of seven players from international duty late last week, Head Coach Dario Vidosic’s side played their first pre-season fixture against a fellow A-Leagues side on Sunday morning.
Team news
New recruits Taylor Otto, Lysianne Proulx and Laura Hughes all started in Head Coach Dario Vidosic’s starting XI.
Starting XI: Proulx, Grosso, Stott, Otto, Torpey, Hughes, Pollicina, Galic, McNamara, Wilkinson, Henry.
What happened?
City’s style of football was on display as the team showed a sign of things to come with an impressive performance two weeks out from the commencement of the new campaign.
Vidosic’s side dominated possession in the early stages, coming closest to opening the scoring when Holly McNamara cut in from out wide, before firing her effort over the crossbar.
Defenders Taylor Otto and Rebekah Stott started the match in the heart of defence, with Otto showcasing her ability on the ball and Stott making a number of key blocks to deny the hosts.
City would eventually break the deadlock after McNamara’s header met Rhianna Pollicina’s corner, before Victory’s Hansen put the ball into the back of her own net.
A number of changes were made at the half-time interval from both teams, and it was City who settled quickest, wrestling the early ascendency.
Second-half XI: Proulx, Grosso, Otto, Chinnama, T.McKenna, Hughes, Pollicina, Galic, McNamara, Wilkinson, Meyers.
A dominant second-half performance from Vidosic’s team began when City doubled their lead through New Zealand World Cup hero, Hannah Wilkinson, in the 54th minute.
Otto picked up the ball in defence before playing a beautiful ball over the top to put McNamara into space. The pacey attacker then beat her opponent before squaring the ball back to Wilkinson who made no mistake from close range.
With a little over 10 minutes to play, City would secure the pre-season win when Rhianna Pollicina made it 3-0.
McNamara was again involved in the build-up, this time dinking the ball over Victory’s defence, allowing Pollicina to run through and slot the ball past Miranda Templeman in goal.
What’s next?
All focus turns to Round 1 of the A-League Women’s season as City travel to New Zealand to take on Wellington Phoenix FC on Sunday 15 October.
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