A-League Women Report Card Round 17: S for Style

Each week during the A-League Women season, Round Ball Australia hands out a report card for the competition based on how the teams performed across the weekend’s fixtures.

Central Coast Mariners vs Western Sydney Wanderers (2-1)

Central Coast Mariners: C-

Perhaps the worst thing about this game for the Mariners was that hardly anyone saw it because of the 4:50pm local time kick-off on a Friday.

In a positive for Emily Husband’s side, Isabel Gomez made her return from injury and finished off a beautiful team goal to mark her return with a bang, which will give the coach some hope they can turn things around.

But conceding two goals late, including an avoidable, albeit rare for the hosts, playing out from the back error, marred the performance for the Mariners.

Blocking out the negatives and focusing on the positives, the first 80 or so minutes of this game are why any side should be worried about coming up against the Mariners in the finals should they make it and can string together a full 90 minute performance.

Western Sydney Wanderers: B-

Geoff Abrahams side left it late, but their fourth win of the season was a hard-fought one, and kept them from going back to the bottom of the ladder, with the bottom four only separated by two points.

Holly Caspers continued her run of goal-scoring after her return from injury, scoring another game-winning goal, while Olivia Price also found the score-sheet in the 2-1 victory.

A nine-point gap with six games to play could see the Wanderers make a charge towards the top six if other sides keep dropping games, but for now, the side should just revel in every result they claim, and start to build blocks towards next season.

Poletti

Canberra United vs Melbourne City (1-1)

Canberra United: B-

Sally James was outstanding in this game, allowing Canberra to take a point at home as City were all over the hosts for large portions of this game.

The highlight of this game for the hosts, besides James’ heroics, was Aideen Keane’s and Maja Markovski’s goal celebration, which might have been the best celly of the season, after Keane levelled it late to seal the 1-1 draw.

A concern for Canberra is their inability to find three points, with only one win and four draws in its last five, the last three of which have been 1-1 results. It is a concern mostly because the sides above them keep dropping points, and an extra win or two would see them inside the top six and in the drivers seat.

A positive though is that they are not losing. Points are still points, and with how tight the race is for finals, these draws could be the difference between getting in and missing out.

Melbourne City: C

In another stereotypical Melbourne City performance, where they dominated possession and shots, they left the nations capital with a point, but an avoidable error stopped them from leaving with all three, after a back pass from Bryleeh Henry went awry, and Malena Mieres came out to claim in, but wasn’t quick enough to stop Keane.

But they still hold a five point gap at the top, albeit with one more game played, and are in the drivers seat to finish on top as it stands, but a result like this where they led and failed to see out the game could come back to haunt them with a slip up.

If City want to be the first team to be “invincible” in the home and away era of the A-League Women, the side needs to get mistakes like this one out of their game as soon as possible.

Poletti

Newcastle Jets vs Perth Glory (2-1)

Newcastle Jets: C

It wasn’t pretty but two goals inside the first four minutes were enough for Newcastle to see their way back to the winner’s circle after a long string of less than ideal results dating back to mid December.

A brace for Sophie Hoban, the first of which she admitted was “kind of a cross to the far post that floated in” and the second being “a tap in, where I was just around the right area,” was the key for the Jets and gave them a clear confidence which permeated through the first half.

The second half was far from clinical however for Newcastle as they looked more disorganised and were clearly frustrated by some at times inconsistent officiating. Of real concern to coach Ryan Campbell would surely be the fact the team accrued yet another red card, this time to live-wire Libby Copus-Brown.

The Jets will need to distill the positives of the first half and convert those into a ninety minute display in what could be the determining match of theirs and Sydney FC’s season next week as they battle to stay off the bottom of the ladder.

Perth Glory: D

A lacklustre start for the visitors saw them pay the ultimate price as they conceded two very early goals in Newcastle, confusion from a cross in saw both the defence and goal keeper Miranda Templeman looking at each other as Sophie Hoban’s ball floated in at the back post. 

The Glory barely had time to look up before again Hoban turned the hero for the home crowd as she tapped her second into an open net after Templeman had parried her first attempt for a second goal with her legs.

Perth at no point during the match looked overly convincing, and despite managing to grab a goal back in the second half via substitute Ella Lincoln, never appeared to be a genuine chance of taking points back to the west from this fixture.

Even once playing against 10 players the Glory looked inadequately able to take control of possession or space despite their player advantage. 

Stephen Peters will undoubtedly have a lot to pick apart as his team now drops to 10th and with other results find themselves well and truly in the battle for the wooden spoon with five games to play.

Chris Macpherson

Western United vs Melbourne Victory (2-1)

Western United: C-

After managing to string together a solid run of results prior to the international break, Western United whimpered in their first game back, failing to score a goal (Melbourne Victory’s Emily Gielnik scored an own goal) in an otherwise even contest.

Their run of results prior to the break kept them in fourth place despite the loss, but it also allowed the gap to open further with the three sides above them, and a week off to start the finals seemingly now out of reach for Kat Smith’s side.

For Western, they had chances here, and capitalising on those chances will be crucial if they want to make finals, especially with the departure of their goal-scoring forward Kahli Johnson, who has signed with the Calgary Wild.

Melbourne Victory: C+

It’s another three points in the bag for the Melbourne Victory as they try to close the gap with their cross-town rivals Melbourne City at the top of the table, sealed with a quality header from captain Kayla Morrison.

With a run of seven games undefeated for Jeff Hopkins side, momentum is on the side of the Victory, and Hopkins does have quite the reputation of getting his side to peak at exactly the right times.

With a medium-strength difficulty schedule to finish, Hopkins might be prepared to forgo the Premiership chase if it means the side peaks in May and claims the Championship, but both pieces of silverware are certainly still up for grabs for the second-placed squad.

Poletti

Wellington Phoenix vs Adelaide United (1-3)

Wellington Phoenix: D+

Porirua Park is supposed to be somewhat of an imposing fortress for visiting teams to come and play at. A proper home ground advantage for the only New Zealand side currently in the A-League Women, before Auckland’s arrival next year.

Amid constantly windy conditions and an intimidating home crowd who turn up to support, it has felt anything but for most of the season, and Sunday’s game was no different as the Phoenix got battered at home.

In a weekend where most of their direct rivals for one of the remaining finals spots dropped points, it was all set-up for Paul Temple’s side to rise up and close the gap, but it never looked like they would get close, even at 1-1 to end the first half.

If the Phoenix want to play finals, they need to find a way to get points and fast, while hoping the teams directly above them continue to drop points. Luckily for them, they play the Mariners, Canberra, and Western United in three of their remaining six games and perhaps could do something about it directly.

Adelaide United: B+

A rare error for Claudia Jenkins and some shooting inaccuracy (31 shots, but only 14 on target) prevented the Reds from getting an A grade this week, but if there were any doubts about Adelaide being a contender, this game should have put those to bed.

Ella Tonkin set the tone early with a fourth minute header and a Lucía León double in the second half sealed the result and created a massive gap between the top three and the rest of the league.

For Adrian Stenta, the temptation to start looking ahead towards a finals berth is there, but they have two tough games in the weeks ahead, as they will face both Melbourne City (1st) and Melbourne Victory (2nd) on the ladder, and Stenta’s side could decide the title race from third spot depending on the results in those games.

If the Reds played anything like they did in this one, perhaps even a late charge at the Premiers Plate is on the cards.

Poletti

Sydney FC vs Brisbane Roar (3-2)

Sydney FC: B-

For just the third time this season, Sydney FC managed to score multiple goals in a game (resulting in two wins, one loss), and picked up just its third win of the season to avoid mathematical elimination from the finals.

Mackenzie Hawkesby continues to score as a striker, while Nat Tobin came up strong with a captains goal from a free kick, and Shea Connors scored her first of the season to seal the much needed victory.

It was the Sky Blues first points since January 19 against the Mariners, and their first win since their game against Canberra United which was called off early in the second half due to inclement weather with Sydney winning 2-0.

The positives for Sydney are that in the last month or so, they’ve found a way to score goals. The negatives are that they are either conceding more for losses, and that this run of form might have come a little too late in the season.

With 18 points up for grabs, and only an 11 point gap as it stands to the top six, Sydney can’t be written off just yet, even if they need a lot of results to go their way.

Brisbane Roar: C

The injury concerns just keep coming for the Brisbane Roar, who had to name Momo Hayashi on the bench despite her not being ready to play per coach Alex Smith post-game.

Prior to the international break, Smith had hoped the injury concerns would ease, but they did anything but, as Tameka Yallop suffered an injury on Matildas duty, and in this game Olivia Sekany went down early with a likely season-ending injury.

Some positives for the Roar were that they found the back of the net twice in the loss, and Keeley Richards impressed after replacing Sekany.

If Brisbane wants to make finals, Richards needs to maintain that level of performance, and they need some personnel to return, and fast, which might be helped by the postponement of their game against Melbourne City due to Cyclone Alfred, giving players some extra time to recover.

Poletti

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