The return of Matilda Katrina Gorry helped Brisbane Roar secure a 1-0 win against Western Sydney Wanderers at AJ Kelly Park, snapping a two-game A-League Women losing run.
Making her first appearance of the season after a planned break across its opening month, Gorry got through 45 minutes unscathed before being subbed off as she looks to rebuild her match fitness on Saturday.
“It was really important for us to turn the last two games around,” Gorry told Network 10.
“We’ve had a few injuries and sicknesses in the team and we just had to adapt.
“It was really nice to be able to help the girls out for 45 minutes today and we can hopefully build on that for next week as well.”
It was another Matilda in Larissa Crummer, though, that proved the catalyst for Roar’s win when she ran onto a ball over the top in the ninth minute and let loose with a shot that was saved by Jordyn Bloomer but subsequently fired home by Hollie Palmer.
Gorry made a run forward and let loose with a long-range effort six minutes later that forced Bloomer to make a save to her left.
Slowly growing into the game, the visitors should have equalised in the 25th minute when Sophie Harding crossed to Holly Caspers at the top of the six-yard box only for the attacker to put an effort wide.
Caspers had another chance to level proceedings when she snuck in behind Roar’s lines in the 33rd, but could only put a shot over the bar.
Roar keeper Hensley Hancuff was then briefly given pause by a 44th-minute effort from Clare Hunt launched from almost the halfway line that sailed wide.
The hosts weren’t having as many shots as their foes, but they were getting their efforts on target: Ayesha Norrie testing Bloomer in the 58th and Jessie Rasschaert doing so in the 63rd.
The Wanderers continued to push hard, especially when coach Kat Smith turned to her bench, but ultimately came up blank for the third game in a row.
The Roar’s day was spoiled, however, by a potentially serious leg injury that forced Mariel Hecher off in second-half stoppage time.
“It was pretty sad seeing (Hecher) go down,” Gorry said.
“You never want to see a player go down injured, especially clutching their knee.”
