Caley Tallon-Henniker made herself a hero after the substitute scored an 86th-minute winner to down Western Sydney Wanderers 1-0 and give two-time reigning champions Sydney FC their first win of the 2024-25 Ninja A-League season.
Sydney’s quest for an historic three-peat had started with back-to-back defeats for the first time since 2017 but the Sky Blues finally opened their account on Saturday.
Super-sub Tallon-Henniker – a former rugby league youth player – came off the bench to lead Sydney FC past their cross-town rivals in in the first derby of the season, extending the club’s unbeaten streak against the Wanderers to 10 matches.
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In that period, dating back to 2019, Western Sydney have not scored a goal.
Sydney FC have three points from three games, while the Wanderers have collected one from a possible nine heading into Unite Round.
“That’s incredible. Last time I played the Wanderers I got a goal and I said maybe it could happen again, and it did,” Tallon-Henniker told Network 10.
“Started last week, I was pretty disappointed to be on the bench but I knew I could come on and make a difference,” she said.
“I wanted to make sure, once I got on, I made it count. I was pretty happy with myself.”
Sydney FC head coach Ante Juric has tinkered with his starting line-up through the opening three rounds of the season as the Championship-winning boss tries to find his best XI following a number of off-season departures.
The likes of stars Cortnee Vine and Jada Whyman departed following a second straight Championship.
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Asked if he knew his strongest line-up, Juric told Network 10: “No, and probably everyone can see that.
“We have a lot of new players. I think last week we had three starters from the Grand Final.
“I know there’s a lot of talk but I told the girls at the start, we will start to hit our straps from around week five or six. That’s been the case in the past as well.
“It’s up to me to find the best solution. Today was good, wasn’t perfect but a good start and change.”
Last season, Sydney lost two of their opening four matches before going on to win the title. In 2022-23, the Sky Blues dropped their opening game.
Juric added: “At the end of the day, we are Sydney FC but this team hasn’t won anything. We haven’t won this Championship.
“But we have good players. I brought them for a reason. Just being honest about when we’re going to hit our straps and what we need to know.
“Our first two games, we made some errors. Just be honest with it, deal with it and move forward, and ultimately success usually follows.”
There were some notable onlookers for the first Sydney Derby of the Ninja A-League season. Interim CommBank Matildas head coach Tom Sermanni was in the house having selected 15 A-Leagues-based players for upcoming matches against Brazil and Chinese Taipei.
Sydney FC’s Isuzu UTE A-League star Douglas Costa also watched on from the stands amid the men’s international break.
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Both Sydney and the Wanderers had their chances in the opening half in Leichhardt.
There were slight appeals from Western Sydney for a handball against the Sky Blues in the first three minutes, but no penalty was awarded.
At the other end, Sydney were dismayed after Maddie Caspers went down inside the area but there penalty appeals were ignored in the seventh minute.
Some miscommunication in Western Sydney’s defence presented the Sky Blues with an opportunity but the home side’s attempt on goal was blocked.
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Wanderers’ Paige Hayward had a great chance to break the deadlock when her volley bounced just wide of the post almost halfway through the opening half.
Sydney FC star Mackenzie Hawkesby forced a fine save from Sham Khamis as the Wanderers fought desperately to keep out the rebound.
Western Sydney had another big opportunity to take the lead on the stroke of half-time as Cushla Rue burst through on goal in a one-on-one situation but her touch evaded her as Brianna Edwards smothered the shot.
A swerving shot from Talia Younis proved a little trick for Edwards seven minutes into the second half, but the Sky Blues goalkeeper managed to keep hold of it.
Princess Ibini – making her first start of the season – almost scored an incredible long-range goal after noticing Khamis off her line but the Wanderers goalkeeper scrambled back to keep out the audacious attempt.
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It was a Sky Blues onslaught for a couple of minutes as the Wanderers were forced to defend desperately – a goal-line clearance from Amy Chessari managed to thwart the hosts.
Sydney got their reward for a sustained period of pressure as came off the bench Tallon-Henniker to smash the ball into the back of the net with five minutes remaining.
Sydney FC also hit the woodwork in the first minute of stoppage time but they still managed to see out the game.
