Melbourne City earned an admirable victory on the road at Western Sydney, coming out 2-1 victors despite Chinaza Uchendu’s early red card.
Chinaza Uchendu will steal the headlines for her dismissal after 17 minutes, but Melbourne City should be praised for their response, taking less than 10 minutes to take the lead through Leticia McKenna despite their numerical disadvantage. Bryleeh Henry doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time, and while it wasn’t enough to salvage anything from the game, a wonder-goal from Wanderers youngster Talia Younis gave their fans a moment to remember.
The win takes Melbourne City six points clear at the top of the NINJA A-League women’s table. Western Sydney remain in 10th and have nine points to make up if they are to break into the top six.
After a relatively quiet opening period the game burst to life for all the wrong reasons when Chinaza Uchendu responded to an exchange of pushing and shoving by attempting to strike Alana Cerne and was shown a straight red card in the 17th minute.
However, less than 10 minutes after the flashpoint, the 10 women of Melbourne City took the lead when Danielle Turner’s lofted ball was chested down by Bryleeh Henry into the path of Leticia McKenna who poked the ball under Sham Khamis in the Western Sydney goal.
The visitors had a great chance to double their surprise lead when McKenna surged through one-on-one with Khamis, but Poppie Hooks showed off her recovery pace to close her down and force her into spraying her shot wide.
Western Sydney had the visitors on the back-foot for the first time at the 44 minute mark when Talia Younis whipped in a lofted, in-swinging cross from the left that teased through the area and bounced off the base of the back post.
But when Malena Mieres launched a free-kick from just outside her own box, McKenna latched on to a loose defensive header from Amy Harrison and squared the ball to Henry who took two bites to bundle in Melbourne City’s second on the stroke of half-time.
Younis got her goal while the second-half was still waking up; the 17 year-old received the ball from a quickly taken free-kick and drilled in a rocket from way outside the area that beat Mieres and nestled in the top right corner.
Western Sydney kept Mieres busy for the remainder of the evening but were unable to create any clear-cut chances and Melbourne City clung on to an admirable win after playing 73 minutes with 10 players.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
WHAT THEY SAID
Leah Davidson
Amy Chessari
