Melbourne City didn’t waste any time getting back to winning ways, recording a 3-0 victory over Adelaide United away from home on Wednesday night.
The deadlock remained until Daniela Galic put away her second of the season early in the second half, before substitutes Leticia McKenna and Caitlin Karic sealed the three points with goals in stoppage time.
Team News
Head Coach Dario Vidosic made three changes to the line-up following Sunday’s disappointing loss away to the Wanderers.
Captain Emma Checker made her first start of the season replacing Naomi Chinnama in the heart of defence, while Melissa Barbieri and Julia Grosso also returned to the XI at the expense of Sally James and Leticia McKenna.
Starting XI: 23. Melissa BARBIERI (GK), 8. Kaitlyn TORPEY, 15. Emma CHECKER (C), 14. Katie BOWEN, 7. Julia GROSSO, 18. Leah DAVIDSON, 10. Rhianna POLLICINA, 24. Daniela GALIC, 22. Bryleeh HENRY, 4. Chelsea BLISSETT, 17. Hannah WILKINSON.
Substitutes: 1. Sally JAMES (GK), 3. Naomi CHINNAMA, 6. Leticia MCKENNA, 20. Caitlin KARIC, 25. Darcey MALONE.
What happened?
The fixture almost got off to a dream start for City, with a goal nearly coming in virtually the first action of the match.
Leah Davidson played a lovely ball through the Adelaide defence to find a well-timed run from Bryleeh Henry, which the young attacker squared up into the box with Hannah Wilkinson just inches away from turning it into the back of the net.
It wouldn’t quite be a sign of things to come though as the rest of the first half proved to be a tight contest.
Both defences were at the top of their games making clear cut chances hard to come by on what was a warm evening in Adelaide.
It seemed like a moment of quality would be needed to find the opener, and it would come just two minutes into the second half courtesy of City number 10, Rhianna Pollicina.
The dynamic midfielder split two Adelaide defenders to place a ball perfectly into the path of Henry, who just like she did early in the first half, put a dangerous ball across the box.
This time though, there was a City player in the perfect position, 16-year-old Daniela Galic there to tap home a simple finish for her second goal of the season.
City turned up the heat following the long-awaited goal, putting plenty of pressure on the Adelaide defence as it looked for the second that would kill off the game.
The hosts were able to withstand that onslaught as the game eventually moved back into more of what we saw in the first half, with the City back four in particular impressing.
Vidosic made a few substitutions as the game entered its latter stages, with a couple of those turning out to be inspired moves.
Leticia McKenna first struck a venomous free kick towards goal in the second minute of stoppage time, which first hit an Adelaide defender before ending up in the back of the net to make it 2-0.
While the game was all but sealed, City didn’t stop there.
After seeing fellow youngster Daniela Galic get her second of the season earlier in the half, Caitlin Karic soon was able to do the same.
In equally impressive fashion to her first professional goal, Karic burnt off an Adelaide defender before unleashing a beautiful curling strike into the bottom right corner from the edge of the box to ensure City would be returning to Melbourne with all three points.
What’s next?
City’s busy week will continue on Sunday afternoon, set to face Melbourne Victory at Casey Fields in the first Melbourne Derby of the season. Click here to get your tickets!
