Match Preview: City v Perth Glory

Melbourne City faces a quick turnaround following Friday night’s win, in action again this Tuesday when it hosts Perth Glory at AAMI Park.

It’s been a hot start to the season for our City Women who sit on top of the table after five fixtures, with just one match remaining in 2022.

Dario Vidosic’s squad suffered its first loss of the season a little over a week ago but didn’t take long to bounce back, recording an impressive win away to Canberra United.

In terms of the goalscoring, there weren’t a whole heap of surprises based off what we’d already seen this season.

Rhianna Pollicina netted her second brace of the season with pair of classy finishes either side of half time, before Maria Jose Rojas finished a well-worked team move to join the stand-in skipper on four goals for the season.

A memorable moment for not just City fans – but those across the league – came in the 88^th minute when 16-year-old Daniela Galic scored her first professional goal, picking out the top corner from outside the box.

This capped off an impressive win for City with the defence also putting in a great showing to record a clean sheet.

Katie Bowen was reliable as ever at the back, putting herself in the right place time and time again, while Sally James was forced into some important saves in goal.

The focus is now on Perth though, as City look to build another win streak in a clash that will now kick off at the revised time of 8:15pm due to the extreme weather forecast.

Although it is facing a brutal turnaround, Vidosic will be demanding the players leave everything on the pitch with plenty of recovery time on the horizon ahead of the teams next match, away to Western Sydney on January 8.

The process of squad rotation already began on Friday as Galic and Emina Ekic moved to the bench, replaced by Leticia McKenna and Chelsea Blissett who came into the starting XI for the first time of the season.

There’s also set to be an interesting watch when it comes to a few of the biggest – if not the biggest – names in the squad.

Emma Checker had been building her match fitness slowly but steadily since the beginning of pre-season after arriving with a lingering knee injury, and looked just about ready for a return to the starting XI a couple of weeks ago before an untimely bout of illness.

Both 2021/22 top-scorer Hannah Wilkinson and Matildas defender Karly Roestbakken are yet to appear this season due to respective quad and foot injuries.

All three have now been included in the squad and will be in the selection mix on Tuesday night.