Brisbane Roar finished the regular Westfield W-League season with a home win, downing fellow-finalists Melbourne Victory 1-0 at QSAC on Sunday afternoon.
Brisbane Roar finished the regular Westfield W-League season with a home win, downing fellow-finalists Melbourne Victory 1-0 at QSAC on Sunday afternoon.
A curling Katrina-Lee Gorry free kick in the first half was enough to secure all three points for Brisbane in a high-quality game that saw chances created at both ends.
The Roar would have had to have won by a huge margin to challenge the Victory for third-place on the table due to goal difference, but there was no chance of either team missing the finals going into the game.
The first shot in anger came from the Roar, as Elise Kellond-Knight sent an effort over the bar after Larissa Crummer had done well to turn over possession.
The Victory somehow failed to take the lead moments later when first Jessica Fishlock’s shot was cleared off the line by Vedrana Popovic, then Nadine Angerer blocked the powerful follow up attempt by Beatrice Goad.
Brisbane’s attacking dynamo, Hayley Raso, teed up Crummer inside the box, but the striker’s effort looped into the waiting hands of Victory keeper Brianna Davey.
The home side were controlling possession for the most part, but the Victory managed to fashion a chance after stealing the ball just outside the box.
Angerer did well to get behind Caitlin Friend’s deflected shot, however, and prevent a goal against the run of play.
When Kellond-Knight robbed possession in the attacking third and fed Crummer, the Victory’s Emma Checker had no option but to foul the striker on the edge of the D, picking up a yellow card in the process.
Gorry then found the far corner of the net with a delightfully executed free kick to give the hosts a deserved lead five minutes before the break.
Kellond-Knight shaved the upright with the first clear chance of the second half, after she was set up by substitute Emily Gielnik.
The visitors had upped the intensity after the break, however, with their own substitute, Lisa De Vanna, causing immediate issues for the Roar defence.
Their enterprise was almost rewarded when the Brisbane backline failed to deal with a Stephanie Catley low cross and Fishlock pounced on the loose ball, but the lively number 10 smashed her shot against the bar.
The Roar immediately shuttled the ball down the other end through Raso, before Gielknik grazed the upright with a stinging low shot.
The end-to-end action continues as Gulcan Koca forced a spectacular diving save from Brisbane’s German keeper after the Victory had again been allowed to advance down the left flank.
A driving run from Vedrano Popovic from left-back created another chance for Gielnik, but Davey was up to the task.
Fishlock could have earned her side a point late on when presented with chance in the six-yard box, but she stumbled as she went to unleash her shot and the opportunity went begging.
Brisbane Roar 1 (Gorry 40)
Melbourne Victory 0
Brisbane Roar: 1. Nadine Angerer (gk), 2. Laura Alleway, 5. Brook Spence, 7. Kim Carroll, 8. Elise Kellond-Knight (c), 9. Larissa Crummer (17. Emily Gielnik 45) , 10. Katrina-Lee Gorry, 11. Vedrana Popovic, 13. Tameka Butt, 16. Hayley Raso (18. Sunny Franco 77), 19. Ayesha Norrie (Kirby) (6. Joanne Burgess 70)
Melbourne Victory: 1. Brianna Davey (gk), 3. Jessica Humble, 7. Stephanie Catley (c), 9. Caitlin Friend (11. Lisa De Vanna 53), 10. Jessica Fishlock, 12. Jessica Samuelsson, 15. Emma Checker 6. Cindy Lay 82) , 16. Beatrice Goad, 17. Gulcan Koca (25. Maika Ruyter-Hooley 71), 21. Ella Mastrantonio, 22. Lauren Barnes