Western Sydney Wanderers have ended an over eight-year wait to defeat Melbourne Victory in the Liberty A-League, with Amy Harrison and Alexia Apostolakis finding the net in their stunning 2-0 win at Wanderers Football Park.
Harrison opened the scoring just before half-time, before teenager Apostolakis added another after the break to wrap up an impressive win for Robbie Hooker’s side on Saturday evening.
Wanderers are in seventh and are knocking on the door of the top six, sitting only three points behind sixth-placed Western United.
Heading into the contest, Victory had only lost one of their previous 17 encounters against the Wanderers (W9, D7), with the only defeat coming on November 15 2015 – a whopping 2,967 days ago. In fact, they were undefeated in their last 11 games prior to the contest.
Victory – who were boosted by the return of reigning Julie Dolan Medallist Alex Chidiac as a second-half substitute – have now lost their last two games and sit nine points behind league leaders Melbourne City.
Victory were dealt a blow before kick-off with back-up goalkeeper Miranda Templeman ruled out of the contest due to a knee injury in the warm-up.
This meant centre-back Tori Hansen – who had been dropped from the starting XI for Emma Checker – was the nominated back-up for the contest and Ava Breidis was brought into the squad.
Victory had the first chance of the fixture, as Lia Privitelli – who came into the side for Beattie Goad – broke in behind the Wanderers defence, but had her effort denied by an outrushing Kaylie Collins.
Jeff Hopkins wasn’t happy with what he was seeing in the opening-half, and made the bold move of substituting Kurea Okino for Sara D’Appolonia after only 36 minutes.
Wanderers, however, made the most of their chances back the other way, as a corner found its way all through to the back post to Harrison who smashed home the opener.
The home side continued to pour on the pressure after half-time. Lydia Williams received a back pass and turned it over to Maliah Morris, but she could only muster up a scuffed effort on goal which was cleared away.
Back the other way, McKenzie Wienert’s speed was causing issues in transition, although she was unable to pull one back, lifting her effort over the crossbar.
Victory’s lack of cutting edge came back to bite them, as Holly Caspers broke through the middle and fed Apostolakis, who made the run from deep and in behind the Victory defence, before slotting it past Williams to double their lead
With the game getting away from them, Chidiac was thrusted into the action for Alana Murphy, as they looked to muster up a late fightback.
Kayla Morrison had a chance to pull one back but her header was comfortably dealt with by Collins, before later in the half, substitute Briedis had two strikes on goal, first putting an effort wide of the mark, before another was saved by the American.
Victory left themselves open as they pushed for a way back into the contest, and Caspers came close to scoring adding a third for the Wanderers, after cutting in on her left foot and hitting the woodwork with a curling effort from range.
