Western Sydney Wanderers have secured their second win of the Westfield W-League season, beating the Brisbane Roar 2-1 at Cleveland Showgrounds.
Western Sydney Wanderers have secured their second win of the Westfield W-League season, beating the Brisbane Roar 2-1 at Cleveland Showgrounds.
Without regular duo Servet Uzunlar and Teigan Allen, Western Sydney introduced Vanessa Hart and Linda O’Neill into the starting 11.
Roar coach Belinda Wilson – contending with the absence of six key players – handed a starting W-League debut to 16-year-old Chelsea Harper at right-back.
The home side found themselves on the back foot as early as the seventh minute, when Western Sydney took the lead through a first-time shot inside the six-yard box from former Brisbane player Catherine Cannuli.
Following the opener, the humid conditions influenced proceedings in the first half, with neither side creating much in the way of clear-cut chances, but the Wanderers did dominate possession as the Roar were content to sit back and soak up the pressure.
After the break, it only took Brisbane four minutes to force their way back into the contest, stand-in captain Elise Kellond-Knight providing Amy Chapman the perfect cross to score her second goal in as many weeks.
English import Hannah Beard should have put her side in front two minutes later when she latched onto a well-timed through ball from young striker Emma Pittman, but Beard could not get her shot on target.
The miss proved costly, as Cannuli bagged her brace just before the hour mark, chipping Roar goalkeeper Hoshimi Kishi with a cheeky strike from 30 yards out.
The Western Sydney striker could have had her hat-trick five minutes later as she smashed a fierce volley just over the crossbar.
Kellond-Knight, playing her first match at home in over 18 months, had a late chance to equalise but her long-range free-kick flew inches wide of the Wanderers goal.
Brisbane Roar 1 (Amy Chapman 49) Western Sydney Wanderers 2 (Catherine Cannuli 7, 56)
Brisbane Roar: 1. Hoshimi Kishi (c), 3. Amy Chapman, 6. Ashley Spina (14. Georgia Chapman 60), 7. Erika Elize, 8. Elise Kellond-Knight, 9. Emma Pittman, 10. Lana Harch, 11. Vedrana Popovic, 15. Hannah Beard (22. Lauren Brown 69-), 16. Sachiko Tatsuoka, 23. Chelsea Harper
Western Sydney Wanderers: 2. Samantha Spackman (6. Racheal Soutar 80′), 3. Alexandra Huynh, 4. Alesha Clifford (12. Jessica Seaman 73), 5. Olivia Kennedy, 8. Vanessa Hart, 9. Sarah Walsh (c), 11. Louise Fors, 13. Catherine Cannuli (17. Alisha Bass 82′), 14. Trudy Camilerri, 16. Linda O’Neill, 20. Thora Helgadottir (gk)
