In a thrilling evening of football, Canberra United has won their first game of the season with a perfect five-star performance against the Western Sydney Wanderers.
Canberra had one of their best halves of the season in the opening 45 minutes where they created a flurry of chances while converting two of them to goals.
The first real chance came to Chelsee Washington when she was given room outside the box. She let a shot rip, only to be met with by a fine save by the Wanderers goalkeeper.
Their dominance in the game finally paid off in 22nd minute. An in-swinging corner by Grace Maher in her fiftieth game for the club, found the head of Michelle Heyman who nodded it home from two yards out.
United didn’t let the home side off the hook as they kept applying pressure. In the span of three minutes Ash Sykes had three chances lead but she just couldn’t find the back of the net.
It didn’t matter though, because Laura Hughes was able to intercept a loose ball from the keeper before finding Washington who buried the ball into the bottom corner to give Canberra a 2-0 half-time lead.
Canberra showed no intention of just protecting their lead in the second-half, they wanted more goals. In the opening 10 minutes they produced two great chances.
Washington tried to square the ball to Grove but the keeper read it and made a save. A few minutes later Heyman found herself one-on-one with the keeper but her effort was shot straight down the middle.
Canberra United’s day got even better when Chloe Middleton scored her first Liberty A-League Women’s goal after a lethal looping strike from just outside the penalty area.
Two Canberra subs nearly combined for a fourth when Holly Caspers found Allira Toby on a cutback pass, but the Western Sydney defense were there just in time to block the strike.
United’s defense was solid throughout the game, and even a late chance for the home side was saved by Chloe Lincoln.
Canberra had a cherry on top when Margot Robinne scored her first of the season after rounding the keeper before setting herself and converting to score United’s fourth. Robinne didn’t stop there though, she went on to score her second goal and Canberra’s fifth with an accurate finish past the oncoming goalkeeper.
