Round 4 Westfield W-League wrap

So to think, at the end of next week we'll be halfway through the season and then things will really start to get interesting. But in this short season, have Canberra United already left their run too late, despite notching up their first win in Round 4? And have the Mariners already secured their spot in the finals thanks to a rampaging 5-1 win over Newcastle? All that and more in one post. Apologies for the lateness, but am still being affected by killer flu.

PERTH GLORY 1 (Alex Singer 48') bt ADELAIDE UNITED 0 at Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide.
So another loss to the Reds, but they seem to get getting closer every time. Still, are now the only team to not have a goal next to its name after four rounds. Come on Adelaide, so close! From all accounts, including Tom Sermanni's that I caught at the Canberra United match, Sam Kerr was on fire for Perth Glory. Kerr came on after just 31mins, replacing Lisa de Vanna (who was not at all happy with that), but then starred. Speaking to Canberra's Emily van Egmond yesterday about the upcoming under-16 Asian Cup - she was similary glowing about Kerr. Kerr was the one who completely changed the scoreline in the ASEAN Cup final last week, and looks one to watch as a bolter for the Matildas senior AFC cup challenge next year. Even Adelaide's captain said they couldn't do much against her when speaking to Sportal after the game.
"Sam Kerr came on a bit earlier than we expected, but she played a brilliant game, she was fast," Christina Papageorgiou said. She also said they would just need to focus on goalscoring first, winning next. "We've got to score some goals first (before winning a game), so we'll look at putting the ball in the back of the net this week at training."
MATCH DETAILS
Referee: Jacqui Melksham
Assistant referees: Airlie Keen and Skye McCabe
Fourth official: Ana Nevjestic
Adelaide United line-up: 1.Sian McLAREN (gk), 2.Ebony WEIDENBACH, 3.Renee HARRISON, 7.Racheal QUIGLEY, 11.Georgia CHAPMAN (10.Marijana RAJCIC 67’), 12. Katerina BEXIS, 14.Donna COCKAYNE (9.Angela FIMMANO 70’), 16.Christina PAPAGEORGIOU (c), 17.Karina ROWETH, 18.Rochelle KUHAR, 19. Nenita BURGESS (15.Tenneille BOALER 61’)
Substitutes Not Used: 20.Kristi HARVEY (gk).
Yellow Cards: Nil.
Red Cards: Nil.
Perth Glory line-up: 1. Emma WIRKUS (GK), 3. Carys HAWKINS, 5. Shannon MAY, 8. Tanya OXTOBY (C), 9. Dani CALAUTTI, 11. Lisa DE VANNA (4. Sam KERR 31’), 13. Elisa D’OVIDIO (6. Ella MASTRANTONIO 88’), 14. Collette McCALLUM, 15. Alex SINGER, 16. Sadie LAWRENCE, 17. Marianna TABAIN.
Substitutes Not Used: 7. Elissia CANHAM, 20. Zoe PALANDRI.
Yellow Cards: Nil.
Red Cards: Nil.

CENTRAL COAST MARINERS 5 (Lydia VANDENBERGH 5’, Michelle HEYMAN 21’/25’, Kendall FLETCHER 65’, Tudy CAMILLERI 82’) bt NEWCASTLE JETS 1 (Tara ANDREWS 88') at Wanderers Oval, Newcastle.
So congratulations to the Jets, because at least now they have scored a goal! The Mariners did this fairly easily though and were up 3-0 after the first 24minutes. Congratulations to Michelle Heyman as well who is now leading the golden boot standings with four. The Mariners are now just one point behind Brisbane after four rounds and are offensively the most dangerous team. They have scored a whopping 10 goals in four games, ahead of Brisbane's effort of six (and remember three of those came in one game against Canberra). The little team that could is how the men's Mariners team is often described, not full of stars, but an honest hard-working team that gets results - the female Mariners seem to be doing the same. Except that of course, the girls are actually based in Sydney, not Gosford, as they are just the other half of the NSWIS team. But wherever they are based, they have had an amazing start to the season and deserve second spot. Speaking to Sportal reporters, Coach Stephen Roche was of course, happy with the 5-1 win.  “We have been working on playing three up front and using that to get in behind the defence and it worked perfectly today,” he said.
“From there it was good finishing that gave us the win.”
 Newcastle vice-captain Amber Neilson said the Jets were happy with the second-half. “We needed to be organized a bit more and communication let us down. But they knocked the ball around really well.”
“We had a run at them in the second half and showed lots of heart but just couldn’t convert our chances.”
Also congrats to Heyman who was awarded Football NSW's Platinum Medal for best player in the Arrive alive Women’s Premier League. Heyman scored 24 goals in 21 games in helping her Illawarra Stingrays team to the premiership and championship. More here.
MATCH DETAILS
Referee: Kirralee Gardner
Assistant referees: Tanya de Boer and Catherine Nash
Fourth official: Penelope Nash
Newcastle Jets line-up: 1. Alison LOGUE (gk), 3. Pelay INGLES, 6. Amber NEILSON, 7. Gema SIMON (2. Libby SHARPE 44’), 10. Hayley CRAWFORD (c), 11. Carlie IKONOMOU (8. Bronte BATES 70’), 12. Emma STEWART (13. Caitlyn JARVIE 59’), 16. Kirstyn PEARCE, 17. Maddy SEARL, 18. Leia SMITH, 19. Tara ANDREWS.
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Emma-Kate DEWHURST (gk).
Yellow Cards: Amber NEILSON 55’, Kirstyn PEARCE 65’.
Red Cards: Nil.
Central Coast Mariners line-up: 1. Jillian LOYDEN (gk), 2. Caitlin COOPER (c), 3. Lyndsay GLOHE, 4. Rachael DOYLE, 8. Kelly GOLEBIOWSKI (13. Tudy CAMILLERI 65’), 9. Renee ROLLASON, 10. Kendall FLETCHER, 11. Michelle HEYMAN (16. Jenna KINGSLEY 71’), 12. Samantha SPACKMAN (17. Britt SIMMONS 78’), 14. Ashleigh CONNOR, 19. Lydia VANDENBERGH.
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Rachel COOPER (gk).
Yellow Cards: Caitlin COOPER 85’, Ashleigh CONNOR 90’.
Red Cards: Nil.


CANBERRA UNITED 2 (TSENG Shu O 27’/48’) bt MELBOURNE VICTORY 0 at McKellar Park, Canberra.
I told you I had a good feeling about this one Canberra fans, finally a scoreline reflecting the performance. Tseng's first goal was magic too. With supreme confidence, she took about three touches to get around Barbieri who could only watch from behind as the girl with the wonderful purple hair finished past her into an empty net. The next wasn't quite as pretty, a toe poke that just beat Barbieri to the ball and trickled in slowly, but it was just as deserved. Canberra's non-local new players this year, Emily van Egmond and Ellyse Perry, were also outstanding. As was Cian Maciejewski who I think changed United's fate when she dispossessed Katrina Gorry on the wing - when no-one, no-one was expecting it - early in the second half and Ash Sykes almost scored. From that momentum United just kept going and really it was hard to fault anyone. United coach Ray Junna was happy, but still a little frustrated that with all their chances they couldn't kill the game off earlier. Melbourne Victory captain Tal Karp was bitterly disappointed. It's the Victory's third loss in three W-League games to United and despite playing well in the first three rounds, they just didn't have much at all against Canberra. "We weren't happy with the result, we were really disappointed to lose three points and really, that's three times now we have lost to Canberra, so hopefully we can get better from here," Karp said.
 So what happened? "To be honest, our preparation hasn't been the best," Karp said. "We have five players that come in from Queensland and so we can't train with them during the week, so it's been a bit disjointed. But ultimately Canberra took it to us today and we just weren't able to compete, we were just behind the play too often.
 "Canberra did really well, they have a really young team but they moved the ball around really well and were threatening. We are going to have to do a whole lot better next time we come up against them."
MATCH DETAILS
Referee: Sara Hodson
Assistant referees: Allyson Flynn and Greg Taylor
Fourth official: Gary Vandeburgt
Canberra United line-up: 1. Lydia WILLIAMS, 4. LIN Chiung Ying, 7. Ellie BRUSH (c), 8. Emily VAN EGMOND (12. Snez VELJANOVSKA 82’), 9. Grace GILL, 10. TSENG Shu O, 11. Cian MACIEJEWSKI (2. Rebecca KITING 64’), 14. Ashleigh SYKES, 15. Nicole SYKES, 16. Ellyse PERRY, 19. Jennifer BISSET (5. Kahlia HOGG 60’)
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Jocelyn MARA.
Yellow Cards: Ashleigh SYKES 61’
Red Cards: Nil.
Melbourne Victory line-up: 1. Melissa BARBIERI (c), 2. Vedrana POPOVIC, 3. Marlies OOSTDAM (19. Enza BARILLA 68’), 4. Tal KARP (14. Selin KURALAY 50’), 5. Laura ALLEWAY, 6. Maika RUYTER-HOOLEY, 8. Katie THORLAKSON (10. Deanna NICESKI 68’), 9. Stephanie CATLEY, 11. Julianne SITCH, 12. Monnique KOFOED, 13. Katrina GORRY.
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Nicole PAUL (gk)
Yellow Cards: Maika RUYTER-HOOLEY 66’
Red Cards: Nil.


SYDNEY FC 1 (Catherine PAASKE 34’) drew with BRISBANE ROAR 1 (Kyah SIMON 46' OG) at Sydney Football Stadium.
And just as I thought it might be, the match of the round ended up being a draw as there just wasn't much between these two teams. Although, I didn't expect that Sydney would score both goals. Since the Round 1 win over Canberra, Brisbane have only scored one goal in each game. Still I think probably that yesterday's game was just quality defence more than anything keeping the score very low. Paaske's goal sounds like a ripper, very much like Tseng Shu O's from Canberra. The Danish International has taken a couple of weeks to settle in, but now seems like she's getting into it. And as a former nominee for FIFA World Player of the Year, that's a very dangerous sign for others than Sydney FC. As far as I'm aware, the only other currently playing in the Westfield W-League who has been nominated for that award is Matilda Lisa de Vanna. But with Paaske having played more internationals than de Vanna, does that make her the best player in the W-League currently? Hmm.. perhaps a topic for discussion later this week.
MATCH DETAILS
Referee: Rebecca Durcau
Assistant referees: Sarah Ho and Leanne Smith
Fourth official: Laura Elliott
Sydney FC line-up: 1.Nikola DEITER (gk), 2. Teigan ALLEN (16. Linda O’NEILL 75’), 3. Danielle BROGAN, 4. Alesha CLIFFORD, 6. Servet UZUNLAR, 7. Heather GARRIOCK (c), 8. Julie RYDAHL (12. Michelle CARNEY 82’), 9. Sarah WALSH (19. Leena KHAMIS 61’),10. Kylie LEDBROOK, 11. Catherine PAASKE, 15. Kyah SIMON.
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Carla MONFORTE (gk).
Yellow Cards: Danielle BROGAN 58’
Red Cards: Nil.
Brisbane Roar line-up: 1. Casey DUMONT (gk) 2. Kate MCSHEA, 3. Karla REUTER (19. Ellen BEAUMONT 45’), 4. Clare POLKINGHORNE (c) 5. Brooke SPENCE, 6. Joanne BURGESS, 8. Elise KELLOND-KNIGHT, 10.Lana HARCH, 11. Aivy LUIK, 16. Lauren COLTHORPE 18. Courtney BEUTEL (9. Jenna TRISTRAM 65’).
Substitutes Not Used: 14.Sasha MCDONNELL, , 20. Kate STEWART (gk)
Yellow Cards: Kate MCSHEA 81’.
Red Cards: Nil.