Canberra United continued their winning start to the season with a crucial 1-0 win over the Lady Reds on Sunday.
The first half ended scoreless but both teams created good chances. After some impressive work, Ashleigh Sykes was brought down in the box. Unfortunately for Canberra, the resulting penalty was denied by the post. This proved to be the best chance of the first half.
For the Lady Reds, some instinctive midfield play lead to an ambitious shot from outside the box by Lisa-Marie Woods in the 17th minute and just missed after hitting the crossbar.
The second half saw a lift of intensity as both teams looked for the opener and it was the visitors who struck.
It came in the 61st minute; some patient build up resulted in Canberra’s Michelle Heyman setting up Stephanie Ochs who calmly slotted the ball into the net.
It proved to be the settling goal the visitors required as they looked to hit the Lady Reds on the counter.
Lady Reds Coach Ross Aloisi saw the need for change and brought on Rachel Alonso and Dylan Holmes in the 63rd and 69th minute respectively. It gave a mix of spark and speed as the Lady Reds created chances to test the Canberra defence.
Despite their brave efforts, they couldn’t find the back of the net as Canberra’s experience showed.
Canberra will look to make it 3 wins from 3 next week against Melbourne Victory, while the Lady Reds will look for their first win against Perth Glory.
