Look up the word ‘attack’ and you may just find the definition reading: Ellie Carpenter.
The Canberra United and Westfield Matildas fullback often finds herself at the opposite end of the pitch, bombing forward to provide a key offensive option for her side.
REPORT: Canberra hold on to defeat Reds
That quality has proven crucial twice this season, scoring against Western Sydney Wanderers earlier this year and again on Sunday to secure her side a vital three points against Adelaide United.
The 1-0 victory at McKellar Park kept Canberra’s Westfield W-League finals hopes alive and it was all courtesy of the 18-year old who popped up just before the hour mark to poke home teammate Megan McElligott’s deflected shot.
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It wasn’t her only foray forward that afternoon as just after half-time she had a powerful effort saved by Reds goalkeeper Sarah Willacy.
Her strike was just reward for the team in green who enjoyed the majority of decent chances against a toothless Adelaide outfit.
The home side enjoyed 57 per cent possession and fired off 16 shots with six of those requiring the attentions of Willacy.
While their crossing accuracy of seven per cent leaves a lot to be desired, a 65 per cent passing success rate inside the Reds’ half showed their ability to move the ball forward through their spine.
Adelaide certainly didn’t play poorly and will feel unlucky not to leave the Nation’s Capital with a point after Fanndis Fridriksdóttir’s effort was desperately tipped onto the crossbar by Canberra custodian Sham Khamis.
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But with only two shots on target all afternoon they were unable to put too much pressure on a home side desperate to grab all three points.
Crucially the Reds missed an opportunity to move back into the top four after they were leapfrogged by Sydney FC to be left sitting in fifth position.
Canberra meanwhile move up to seventh, three points away from those coveted finals spots.
