Canberra United has an untarnished record at Viking Park and will be looking to keep it that way, when they take on Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday night.
A revised schedule sees the two sides play each other for the first time this Westfield W-League season and three weeks earlier than expected after travel restrictions eased between the state and territory.
Canberra United is coming off a tough Round 5 matchup against Perth Glory. Again, it was an exhibition of their never say die attitude, with a cracker of a goal in the final few minutes. Hayley Taylor-Young proved crucial off the bench, using her strength and speed to score the equaliser in the 87th minute, seeing the game end in a 1-1 draw.
Meantime, the Western Sydney Wanderers are nursing their wounds from a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Newcastle Jets. Georgia Yeoman-Dale did brilliantly to reply to the Jets’ scoreboard opener, getting the Red and Black back in the game. However it didn’t take long for three more to sail past Courtney Newbon in the Wanderers’ goal, leaving the Sydney team desperate for a win to keep their finals hopes alive.
Canberra have the wood over the Wanderers in previous seasons, having won six of the 11 games and only tasting defeat twice.
In a memorable 2015 matchup, Canberra were fighting to keep their unbeaten record against the Wanderers and Kendall Fletcher got to work early. The goal gave Canberra confidence going forward with the Wanderers becoming increasingly frustrated by a lack of time on the ball, however the match remained in the balance sitting at 1-0 heading into half time.
An own goal to the Wanderers saw United take a 2-0 lead, and it wasn’t until the 77th minute that the Wanderers made the scoresheet, with Erica Halloway scoring the club’s only goal. Despite that, the enthusiasm of a comeback dissipated quickly with Canberra scoring a mere two minutes later with Fletcher claiming her second in the match.
The win looked all but certain but that didn’t stop Ashleigh Sykes who was set to be rewarded just four minutes later, as she scored the final goal that saw the result rest at 4-1.
Let’s hope this weekend is a similarly high scoring affair when the two sides meet at Viking Park at 5:05pm.
