A brilliant performance from Adelaide goalkeeper Annalee Grove has helped the Reds seal their second win of the Liberty A-League season, defeating Western Sydney Wanderers 1-0 at Wanderers Football Park.
The away side flew out of the blocks and took the lead after just 90 seconds through midfielder Dylan Holmes.
The Wanderers should have been level soon after but Maliah Morris was unable to hit the target from inside the box, steering her effort wide of the far post after latching on to Sophie Harding’s well-timed cut-back.
Having regained possession inside the Wanderers’ defensive third, midfielder Nanako Sasaki threaded a beautiful ball through a gap in the home side’s defence before Holmes cooly slotted the ball beyond Wanderers keeper Kaylie Collins.
Harding then headed narrowly over in the 24th minute before the Wanderers striker put one on a plate for teammate Danika Matos, however the midfielder couldn’t beat Adelaide keeper Annalee Grove when one-on-one.
Seemingly the team in the ascendency, the Wanderers then had two chances to equalise inside the first five minutes of the second-half.
First, Holly Caspers saw her looping header drop the other side of the crossbar from an early second-half corner while American forward Maliah Morris then couldn’t convert from inside the box after yet more good work from strike partner Sophie Harding.
Adelaide then had goalkeeper Annalee Grove to thank once again, this time denying Holly Caspers with a superb save, standing tall to thwart the Wanderers attacker when one-on-one after she was put through on goal by Sophie Harding.
Seemingly not happy to just sit in and defend their lead Adelaide continued to push for a second and substitute Emily Condon went close, but her right-footed effort curled narrowly wide of the far post.
The away side were then forced to defend for their lives for the remaining five minutes of the contest after central defender Ella Tonkin was sent off, receiving a second yellow card for bringing down Wanderers sub India Breier.
The Wanderers continued to push for a late leveller but once again couldn’t find a way past Adelaide keeper Annalee Grove who produced a fantastic save to deny in-form striker Sophie Harding in the 93rd minute.
Adelaide held firm to secure back-to-back wins in the Liberty A-League for the first time this season and their first clean sheet in the competition in over a year.
The talking point
Down to ten players and desperately hanging on to their previous one-goal lead, the last thing Adrian Stenta and his side would have wanted to see was the in-form Sophie Harding baring down on the Adelaide United goal deep into stoppage time.
However Harding met her match in the form of the Adelaide United goalkeeper Annalee Grove, who for the umpteenth time that afternoon pulled off a brilliant save to secure her side the three points and with it secure back-to-back wins for the first time this season.
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Who else? Annalee Grove.
The Adelaide custodian has received her fair share of criticism at times this season and has certainly faced plenty of shots given the Reds possessed the competition’s most porous defence heading into Round nine.
However, Annalee Grove has today put in one of the best goalkeeping performances you are likely to see this season.
Robbie Hooker’s Wanderers created plenty of chances in this game but constantly found themselves coming up short against Grove, who pulled off three big saves when one-on-one against Danika Matos in the first half and both Holly Caspers and Sophie Harding late in the second.
If ever there was a performance worthy of securing a first Liberty A-League clean sheet in over a year, it was this one.
What it means
The Wanderers’ promising run under Robbie Hooker looks to have been somewhat stunted having picked up just a point from their last two games and they’ll need to be at their best if they want to get back into the winners circle in Round 10 given they face a home clash against Melbourne Victory.
As for Adelaide, Adrian Stenta’s side will be hoping the good times keep on coming as they look to make it three-wins in a row when they face an inconsistent Newcastle Jets side in Round 10.
