The Adelaide United ‘Late Show’ in the Isuzu UTE A-League rolled on against Melbourne City on Tuesday night, with Carl Veart’s side coming from behind to snatch all three points at the death – continuing to show an appetite for late drama on their way into third spot on the table.
In the Liberty A-League, Western Sydney lost 5-0 for the second time in a matter of days – this time on their home deck – against a previously winless Canberra United.
Canberra were the last winless team in the league heading into this Tuesday-evening clash but end the day on the winners list.
KEEPUP followed along LIVE to bring you all the goals, highlights, up to date scores and biggest talking points from two A-Leagues fixtures on Tuesday, February 15:
- WESTERN SYDNEY 0-5 CANBERRA UNITED
Liberty A-League. MATCH REPORT
- MELBOURNE CITY 1-2 ADELAIDE UNITED
Isuzu UTE A-League. MATCH REPORT
REACTION
Mo’s ‘gamble’, Jenkinson’s ‘collapse in concentration’ – ‘You can’t be doing that’
Paramount+ analyst Daniel McBreen says Melbourne City defender Carl Jenkinson’s ‘scrappy’ moment of fatigue at the death is a collapse in concentration which can’t be occurring at a team gunning for silverware this season.
City had the chance to go top of the pile with a point earned against the Reds, and locked at 1-1 with five minutes to play the Tuesday night fixture seemed destined to end with points shared before a defensive brain-fade from City’s former English Premier League defender gifted the Reds all three points.
But McBreen says however sloppy the defensive lapse was from Jenkinson, whose soft back-pass to goalkeeper Tom Glover was picked off by Mohamed Toure and tucked away into the back of the net for the win, half the credit must go to the Reds substitute for assessing the danger, and pouncing on the loose ball.
“Both teams had really good moments, and then both had really bad moments – like this,” McBreen said on the Paramount+ post-game show.
“It was really scrappy, we talk about fatigue but that in the last five minutes of a game is a real sloppy, a real concentration lapse.
“He even looks up to see where Mo Toure is and still plays that pass. You have to give credit to Toure, you’ve got to anticipate those opportunities, you’ve got to gamble he might make that pass, but that’s just a real collapse in concentration. You can’t be doing that.”
In six games this season, late Adelaide goals have altered proceedings. Tonight it was an 85th minute winner from Toure – the second occasion in which Adelaide have stolen all three points with a late strike (Hiroshi Ibusuki against Newcastle Jets).
Toure says he sniffed out the chance as soon as Jenkinson put his head down to play the ball back to his keeper.
“(Craig Goodwin) was pressing him, the only option he had was back to the keeper,” Toure told Paramount+ post-match.
“Once he put his head down to play it I just thought: ‘It’s going to the keeper’. It wasn’t a fast ball so I could intercept and score.
“A big win away. It’s always good to win away. We’ve been out of Adelaide for a while now, we played in Sydney and came straight here so it’s been difficult for the boys but we pushed through to get another result.”
READ: The Reds ‘annoying trait’ has changed their season
Wanderers falling apart in ALW: ’I don’t know how they pick themselves up after this one’
Two games, two defeats, 10 goals conceded: Western Sydney Wanderers are dismantling in real time as the 2021/22 Liberty A-League campaign draws toward its conclusion.
The previously winless Canberra United travelled to Blacktown International Sportspark after a 3-0 home defeat to Wellington Phoenix.
But against the Wanderers Vicki Linton’s side looked of top-four calibre; Michelle Heyman – goalless in six games – was back to her vintage best whilst Chloe Middleton and Margot Robinne netted their first Liberty A-League goals respectively.
“They look absolutely deflated,” said former Wanderer Georgia Yeoman-Dale on the Paramount+ post-game show.
“It’s been a tough season for them, today we were hoping they would come out with a new energy, but it just was’t to be.
“Canberra then took advantage of that and played their best game of the season.”
Yeoman-Dale added: “I don’t know how they pick themselves up after this one.
“They were looking at this came as one they can and should win, and it’s just gone totally against them.”
MATCH REPORT: CANBERRA THUMP WANDERERS FOR ALW BREAKTHROUGH
It’s become glaringly obvious in recent games just how big of a blow it was to lose central defender Clare Hunt in late January.
With Hunt on the park, Catherine Cannuli’s side had conceded just six goals in just over seven games – but since her shoulder injury in the first half of their clash with Adelaide United, the Wanderers have conceded 14 goals in less than four games.
Cannuli’s side have now conceded 17 goals (the second-most in the league) and scored just three (the least in the league).
“You thought it was going to be an easy fix (against Canberra),” said Paramount+ analyst Amy Chapman post-match.
“Can they score some goals? They’ve been in every single game because they’re so defensively strong, but now they’ve conceded 10 in two games. It’s all over the park they need a bit of work, and they certainly need a bit of confidence.”
‘It means everything to me’ – Teenage Canberra keeper in dreamland
A clean sheet and an assist in a 5-0 win? Any goalkeeper would take that – let alone a 17-year-old plucked from her club’s academy in the opportunity of a lifetime.
At 17 years of age, Canberra scholarship player Chloe Lincoln was in dreamland after her maiden professional shutout – and an unlikely assist to Margot Robinne for her side’s fifth of the afternoon.
Lincoln has received her opportunity in the senior squad due to injuries to first and second choice keepers Keeley Richards and Beth Mason-Jones.
The teen keeper made her starting debut in a disappointing 3-0 loss to the ‘Nix, but backed it up with a performance which stirred emotions inside of her she could hardly describe.
“It was just so fun,” Lincoln told Paramount+ post-game. “I’m so happy the girls could get the win today. They’ve been pushing so hard in training and completely deserve it, so well done to this team.
“I can’t describe it in words, honestly. It means everything.”
Lincoln paused for a moment, before adding: “I love this team so much, I feel so grateful to be able to be a part of such a special group of girls.
“It just means everything to me.”
