Western United’s hopes of a fourth-place finish were dented on Saturday afternoon as Adelaide United travelled to Ironbark Fields and recorded an impressive 3-1 win over their top-four rivals.
Adelaide came into the penultimate round of the season with a third-place finish already secured, but turned on the style in Tarneit as Lucía León bagged a brilliant brace in the win on the road.
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León’s first goal of the afternoon came in the eighth minute and was scored in spectacular fashion; the Dominican Republic international’s backheeled volley put Adelaide on top and the Reds swiftly doubled their lead through Sarah Morgan’s long-range stunner in the 14th minute.
Kiewa Hieda brought Western back into the contest just nine minutes later but after half-time, Adelaide restored their two-goal advantage as León secured her brace with a clinical finish directed into the top-left corner.
The result has left Western at risk of dropping out of the top four in the final round of the season; Central Coast Mariners sit fifth on the table, just one point shy of Western, and round out the regular season with an F3 Derby bout against Newcastle Jets.
Western, meanwhile, finish the regular season on the road against Wellington Phoenix. Should the Mariners record a draw or better against the Jets they will jump ahead of Western into the top four, leaving Kat Smith’s side with the task of beating the Phoenix to ensure they finish in the top four and secure a home Elimination Final.
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Lucía León’s first of two outstanding goals came in the fourth minute at Ironbark Fields.
Emily Condon’s floating ball into the box invited León to pounce and, with plenty of work left to do, the Adelaide import flicked her heel around her defensive marker to make contact on the volley.
Soon after it was 2-0 and, having initially cleared the danger from an Adelaide corner, there was nothing Western could do about what came next.
Sarah Morgan arrived on the scene to meet the bouncing ball and dispatched her first-time strike from outside the box into the back of the net.
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Kiewa Hieda capitalised on a defensive slip by Ella Tonkin to bring Western back to 2-1 in the first half but it was the only goal the hosts could muster in a game that belonged to Adelaide and their in-form recruit León, who put the result beyond doubt with a clinical finish in the second half.
