Brisbane scrape past Wanderers
Brisbane Roar scored a hard-earned 3-2 victory over the Western Sydney Wanderers in their Westfield W-League clash at Suncorp Stadium on Friday afternoon.
Brisbane Roar scored a hard-earned 3-2 victory over the Western Sydney Wanderers in their Westfield W-League clash at Suncorp Stadium on Friday afternoon.
A thrilling first half saw the two sides go into the sheds 2-2 with Shawna Gordon and Michelle Carney scoring headers for Western Sydney, either side of goals from Larissa Crummer and Hayley Raso for Brisbane.
In a less open second period the dismissal of Wanderers captain Heather Garriock in the 75th minute gave Brisbane the edge they needed to find a winning goal through Tameka Butt.
Wanderers' star midfielder Emily van Egmond proved a constant threat to the Roar defence in the first half before tiring late on, while Raso was an attacking menace throughout for the hosts until she was substituted on the hour mark.
The Roar almost went ahead in the very first minute when Katrina Gorry put Raso through with a perfect pass, but the diminutive attacker had her first shot saved by Heather Garriock, then sent her second attempt wide.
It was the Wanderers who took the early lead, though, when Garriock curled in a beautiful cross from the left and Gordon found the net with a powerful diving header.
Down the other end, big defender Laura Alleway leapt high to meet an Elise Kellond-Knight free kick but her header slammed against the upright.
Brisbane were level minutes later, however, when Raso pounced on a Teigan Allen mistake before dinking a ball through to Crummer, who rounded the keeper and poked the ball into the open net.
After taking a heavy tackle from Allen which had her sprawled on the sideline for several minutes, Raso picked herself up to score Brisbane's go-ahead goal, latching onto a Tameka Butt through ball before finishing expertly past Dimitra Poulos.
The Roar hit the woodwork for a second time when Kellond-Knight struck a venomous shot from well outside the box which crashed against the underside of the crossbar.
The Wanderers evened the ledger just before the interval when Carney showed great tenacity to win a header in a crowded box and power it into the top corner of the goal from a van Egmond corner.
Katrina Gorry nearly scored an excellent goal at the start of the second half, but her curling effort with the outside of her right boot soared just over the bar.
Gorry repeated the dose in the 68th minute when she went on an angled run past several Wanderers defenders to open up space for herself in the box, but another outside-of-the-boot effort flew wide of the far post.
The Wanderers were forced to play the final 15 minutes a player short when captain Garriock was dismissed for a second yellow card for hand ball.
Brisbane capitalised six minutes later when Butt controlled a Vedrana Popovic pass beautifully in the area before cracking her shot past Poulos.
The hosts could have sealed the win through a rapid counter attack, but Emily Gielnik somehow scooped her effort over from close range after good work from Gorry and Joanne Burgess.
Substitute Jenna Kingsley had an equally good chance to get a late equaliser for the Wanderers but blazed her attempt over the bar.
Brisbane Roar 3 (Crummer 19, Raso 31, Butt 82)
Western Sydney Wanderers 2 (Gordon 8, Carney 45+2)
Played at Suncorp Stadium
Brisbane Roar: 1. Nadine Angerer (gk), 2. Laura Alleway, 4. Clare Pokinghorne (c), 5. Brook Spence, 7. Kim Carroll, 8. Elise Kellond-Knight, 9. Larissa Crummer (6. Joanne Burgess 74), 10. Katrina-Lee Gorry, 11. Vedrana Popovic (19. Ayesha Norrie 90+3), 13. Tameka Butt, 16. Hayley Raso (17. Emily Gielnik 60)
Western Sydney Wanderers: 2. Caitlin Cooper, 3. Shawna Gordon, 5. Emily van Egmond, 7. Heather Garriock (c), 10. Yesim (Servet) Uzunla 12. Jessica Seaman 87) r, 11. Michelle Carney (18. Helen Petinos 65), 13. Catherine Cannuli, 14. Alanna Kennedy, 15. Teigen Allen, 16. Linda O'Neill (9. Jenna Kingsley 89), 22. Dimitra Poulos (gk)