City fired warning shot to Westfield W-League rivals says van Egmond

Goalscorer Emily van Egmond believes Melbourne City are ‘starting to make a statement’ following a dominant 4-0 win against Canberra United.

The three-time Westfield W-League champions had already proven what a compact defensive line they possess and the hosts notched their sixth shut out in eight matches on Thursday night.

City have not conceded since the 2-1 win against Sydney FC on December 8 – 32 days, and more than 400 minutes of football ago – but it was their glittering offence that sparkled for the first time in the 2019/20 campaign at ABD Stadium.

Kyah Simon fired a first-half double either side of Claire Emslie’s penalty, and van Egmond put the exclamation mark on the resounding win with a stunning 30-yard strike in the closing stages.

Now six points clear at the top, City showed they have a goal-hungry attack to pair with a solid-steel defence that has only conceded three times in 720 plus minutes in the Westfield W-League this season.

“That’s just credit to our defence,” she told FOX Sports post-match.

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“We’ve been working on it all season and I think it’s starting to finally come together.

“It’s taken us a couple of games to get into the swing of things.

“We’ve had a lot of our players come in from all kinds of different leagues.

“I think now we’re starting to make a statement across the league which is what we want going into the back end of the season.”

City set records back in their inaugural season in 2015/16 when they kept seven straight clean sheets and only conceded four goals all season, while winning all 12 from 12 to claim their first silverware.

They may not be able to quite match that achievement if they are to clinch their first Premiers Plate since that maiden campaign but Rado Vidošić’s side may not be far off.

While lifting trophies might be in the back of van Egmond’s mind, closer to the front of her thoughts are the pain and tragedy caused by the bushfires currently sweeping the nation.

“We’ll do our part,” she added, regarding the ‘Football for Fire-affected Farmers’ campaign, a partnership between Rural Aid and the Westfield W-League.

“It’s obviously devastating what’s going on across the country with the fires and every little bit counts.”