The penultimate game of our Wander Women’s season will see them travel to the sunshine state to take on Brisbane Roar.
It has been a tough season for the Wanderers, who have been ravaged by injury issues and off-field problems, but they would love to finish with a flourish to create some momentum and belief for next season and their young team.
They have been competitive in recent weeks under new permanent coach Geoff Abraham’s, but were unfortunate to fall to a narrow defeat to Melbourne Victory last weekend.
Missing key players in Talia Younis and Sienna Saveska due to international duty, they fought hard but ultimately fell to a 1-0 defeat after a hugely unlucky Danika Matos own goal early on.
The Wanderers could fancy themselves against a Brisbane team whose form has fallen off a cliff in the second half of the year, seeing them fall from contenders in the top four to potentially missing out on the finals.
They are winless in seven with six losses and a draw in that time, and have lost five games in a row and are now in seventh place.
One of those losses actually came in the last head-to-head meeting between the teams at Wanderers Football Park.
They took the lead early on after a goal from Sienna Saveska, and despite Brisbane equalising in the second half, Holly Caspers played a starring role off the bench, scoring the winner in the 88th minute in a fantastic moment for the Red and Black.
The Wanderers will feel emboldened to get a similar result on the road in their final away match of the season, and will be boosted by Saveska’s return.
The young attacker has seven goals for the season and has been a shining light, helping make up for the injury losses of Caspers and Sophie Harding.
The latter has returned in recent games off the bench, and will hope to get back to her best in the last couple of games in the season and make a key connection with Caspers that paid dividends last season.
The Wanderers need to win their last two games to avoid finishing bottom of the table, giving them more than enough motivation to get a win in Brisbane.
Brisbane are still a talented team who can cause problems, but the season ending injury to Laini Freier has hit them hard; the attacker had nine goals for the season and the Roar have struggled to replace those goals.
Current Matilda Tameka Yallop has also been a key player, scoring nine goals, but had enough support from the rest of the team, and their defence has also suffered in recent weeks.
Last time the teams met in Queensland, Harding got on the scoresheet in a 1-1 draw, as Brisbane took the lead in the first half of that match.
