Westfield W-League Round 6 wrap

So it feels like only a day ago I was previewing this round and then it was all over. Oh that's right, because I did only preview it on Saturday. But anyway, it might have been one short-sharp round with all the games over in a matter of hours - but what a round. Goals everywhere - and not just from one team as in last week's game - and interesting results for the top-six. Basically from here, any of those teams could still make the finals. So here is the wrap (which yes, is late again, sorry for the slackness!).

BRISBANE ROAR 2 (Jo Burgess 6', Elise Kellond-Knight 74') bt CANBERRA UNITED 1 (Cian Maciejewski 58') at McKellar Park. Crowd 602. Referee, Pru Donohue. So as I spoke about before, it's  a great W-League rivalry. It certainly lived up to it. It was a great game, plenty of chances from both teams, some great saves and some great goals. But Canberrans, where were you? The lowest crowd of the year so far - you had better bring it next week or I will be really angry. Anyway, Canberra United will be able to take plenty from the game even though they lost it. First of all the first goal was freakish. Yes, Lydia Williams fell over while running backwards to try and get it, but I don't think she would have got to it anyway, it was just a crazy shot that dipped just under the crossbar. Burgess even offered up a hand in way of apology when the shot went in and the referee took extra long to signal it, as really, no-one could believe it had gone in. For the next 50minutes or so, the game was played on very even terms. Although, to be picky, Brisbane did force Williams into more saves than United did for Dumont. But United thoroughly deserved its equaliser and none more so than the player who scored it - Cian Maciejewski. She had hardly slept and hadn't eaten for almost 24-hours before the game after tending to her sick dog (which sadly died overnight on Friday), but she still turned up to play and was one of United's best. Her volley from a Bec Kiting cross was excellent and what a way to score her first W-League goal.
Unfortunately, it United just didn't have enough to keep out Brisbane and Elise Kellond-Knight put in a contender for goal of the year. She took a few touches along the top of the box before curling in a shot in the top-right corner. Not much but perhaps not letting Brisbane have as much time to shoot could have stopped that one. Canberra looked very good though and with four winnable games to finish the season, could definitely make the finals. Coach Ray Junna thinks they need to stop letting in easy goals though.
"Testament to the girls they gave it their all, that was our goal to come our here to play a bit of football and take it to them, which they did, but again unlucky with two, pardon the french, shitty goals again, the first one was soft, the second one she was stretching for, it happens, but it seems to happen more to us than anyone else, but we have four more games and we'll keep plugging on," he said. "It's certainly not out of our grasp so we'll certainly give it a go." Jeff Hopkins was happy to get the win, but not overly happy with the performance after the 6-0 smashing the week before. "We're also a little bit disappointed in the way that we played, credit to Canberra they really came at us there, especially in the way that they played in the second half, but after the way we played last week and the way he have been playing, we are a little bit disappointed with today," Hopkins said. Although he did say, perhaps they were lucky to get the three points.

"I think most probably looking back on the game a draw would have been a fair result, but the quality and the character of our team really shows through when times get tough and in tight games that's what makes the difference so I'm really proud of all the girls and how they played." And the crucial touches that did hand them the game, Kellond-Knights goal followed by Casey Dumont's two goal-line saves in the final five minutes? "[Elise] normally just stands on that foot, I couldn't believe it," [lots of laughs], "It was a great strike from Elise, she does srtike the ball really well with either foot and Casey is doing what she does most weeks when she gets tested.
 "I believe she is the best goalkeeper in the country and I'm sure it wont be long if she keeps going like that she'll be proving that at the top level."
MATCH DETAILS
Referee: Pru Donohue
Referee assistants: Brett Woodford and Greg Taylor
Fourth official: Gary Vandeburgt
Canberra United Line-up: 1. Lydia WILLIAMS (c), 2. Rebecca KITING, 3. Bronwyn STUDMAN, 7. Ellie BRUSH (6. Ellie RAYMOND 90’), 9. Grace GILL (5. Kahlia HOGG 60’), 10. TSENG Shu O, 11. Cian MACIEJEWSKI, 12. Snez VELJANOVSKA, 14. Ashleigh SYKES, 15. Nicole SYKES, 19. Jennifer BISSET (22. Lucy ALLAN 63’)
Substitutes not used: 20. Jocelyn MARA
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil
Brisbane Roar line-up: 1. Casey DUMONT (gk) 2. Kate MCSHEA, 4. Clare POLKINGHORNE (c), 5. Brooke SPENCE, 6. Joanne BURGESS, 7. Pam BIGNOLD (13. Tameka BUTT 65’), 8. Elise KELLOND-KNIGHT, 10.Lana HARCH (12. Stephanie LATHAM 86’), 11. Aivi LUIK, 18. Courtney BEUTEL (14.Sasha MCDONNELL 65’), 19. Ellen BEAUMONT
Substitutes not used: 20. Kate STEWART (gk)
Yellow cards: Sasha MCDONNELL 79’, Tameka BUTT 90’
Red cards: Nil

NEWCASTLE JETS 3 drew with ADELAIDE UNITED 3 at Wanderers Oval, Newcastle. So first things first, Adelaide have scored a goal, yay! Three of them! yay! But wow, neither of these teams can buy a win can they? Previous to this game the only point they had each claimed was from a 0-0 draw in Round 1. The round 6 game had plenty more excitment, but unfortunately the same amount of points. Which certainly makes the battle for the wooden spoon interesting.  Can this be the kickstart of a late season run though? Now both teams have scored a few, will they suddenly find the confidence? Very hard to judge until next week is my judgement. But on a positive note, quotes from both sides on Sportal. Newcastle captain Hayley Crawford was positive after the result. Obviously we would have preferred to win but we showed great character to come back into the game after being down 3-1," she told Sportal. "If we can start games the way we finish them then we will get that win we are looking for." Tennille Boaler said the result was a good one for Adelaide United, who picked up their first goals of the season. "It was good to get some goals and hold a lead but they fought back hard," she said. "In the end though, there were some positives signs there for us."
MATCH DETAILS
Referee: Kate Jacewicz
Referee assistants: Tanya De Boer and Catherine Nash
Fourth official: Kiralee Gardener
Newcastle Jets line-up: 1. Alison LOGUE (gk), 2. Libby SHARPE, 3. Pelay INGLES, 5. Stacey DAY, 6. Amber NEILSON, 7. Gema SIMON, 9. Kate HENSMAN (22. Nicole JONES 79), 10. Hayley CRAWFORD(c), 15. Renee CARTWRIGHT, 18. Leia SMITH (8. Bronte BATES 75’), 21. Harmonie ATTWILL (4. Loren MAHONEY 68’)
Substitutes not used: 20. Emma-Kate DEWHURST (gk)
Yellow cards: Stacey DAY 58’, Amber NEILSON 75’
Red cards: Nil
Adelaide United line-up: 1.Sian McLAREN (gk), 2.Ebony WEIDENBACH, 3.Renee HARRISON, 7.Racheal QUIGLEY, 11.Georgia CHAPMAN, 12.Katerina BEXIS (13.Lauren CHIVERS 64’), 14.Donna COCKAYNE (6.Thomai KEZIOS 90’), 15.Tenneille BOALER, 16.Christina PAPAGEORGIOU (c), 17.Karina ROWETH, 18.Rochelle KUHAR
Substitutes not used: 19. Nenita BURGESS, 20.Kristi HARVEY (gk)
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil

CENTRAL COAST MARINERS 2 bt PERTH GLORY 1 at Clipsal Stadium, Inglewood.
So the Mariners keep up their good form, but what has happened to Perth? Well missing Collette McCallum I expect hurt them a lot and the player that starred when they did win, Sam Kerr, is still overseas. It now seems after all promise from the start of the season, Perth's shot at finals is fading. They now have a crucial game against Canberra next week. Although, going by my reckoning, it's about time that Katie Gill started to appear for Perth. Canberra will not like that AT ALL, after what she did in Round 1 last year. Meanwhile, the Mariners simple 'win the ball and shoot game' has them sitting pretty. An unfussy team who are great to watch for their unrelenting attack, they certainly deserve their spot. Now it just will be interesting to see how they go in finals against the likes of technically excellent Sydney FC and Brisbane Roar. So far though, Mariners coach Stephen Roche is a happy man, from the Central Coast's media release. “We are enjoying it. We are enjoying the training, we are enjoying the football. We will just keep enjoying it and see what happens,” said Mariners head coach Stephen Roche. “Same story as last week with Canberra. We made a lot of chances and should have shut the gate at the end of the first half. “We are really concentrating for the full match. Last year we still played good attacking football. Last year we put a lot of teams under pressure but had some really bad lapses in concentration. This year it’s a lot better,” Roche said.
MATCH DETAILS
Referee: Lee Corey
Referee assistants: Josh Mihevc and Trent Fleskens
Fourth official: Tim Mihevc
Perth Glory line-up: 1. Emma WIRKUS (gk), 3 Carys HAWKINS, 5 Shannon MAY, 8 Tanya OXTOBY (c), 9 Danielle CALAUTTI, 10 Ciara CONWAY (6 Ella MASTRANTONIO 33’), 13 Elisa D’OVIDIO (21 Jaymee GIBBONS 90’), 15 Alexandra SINGER, 16 Sadie LAWRENCE, 17. Marianna TABAIN, 19 Katarina JUKIC (11 Lisa DE VANNA 41’)
Substitutes not used: 20. Zoe PALANDRI (gk)
Yellow Cards: Alexandra SINGER 31’, Ella MASTRANTONIO 77’, Lisa DE VANNA 83’
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, 9 Renee ROLLASON (13 Trudy CAMILLERI 76’), 10 Kendall FLETCHER, 11 Michelle HEYMAN (16 Jenna KINGSLEY 90’), 12 Samantha SPACKMAN, 14 Ashleigh CONNOR (5 Jessica SEAMAN 90+2’), 19 Lydia VANDENBERGH
Substitutes not used: 20. Rachel COOPER (gk)
Yellow Cards: Kendall FLETCHER 16’, Kelly GOLEBIOWSKI 56’, Ashleigh CONNOR 63’
Red Cards: Nil

MELBOURNE VICTORY (Julianne SITCH 62’) drew with SYDNEY FC 1 (Maika RUYTER-HOOLEY 90’+4) at Deakin Reserve, Shepparton. Well well, Melbourne almost came up with the win they needed to put a nice little gap between them, Perth and Canberra, but an own-goal in the 94th minute helped Sydney to claim a point. The Victory couldn't have got much closer to one. It's made it an interesting road to finals now, with Melbourne certainly open to a charge from Perth or Canberra. But anyway, the game sounds like a cracker. And yay, it looks like the intrepid Sportal reporter in Shepparton has included some quotes. A cracking report from James Ranson here. From Laura Alleway, who is refreshingly honest,"Shattered to go down late on, the girls dug really deep and played really hard. Melissa Barbieri had an absolute blinder of a game," she said. "It's just incredible really, we've got Julianne in the middle who just rips players to pieces, she has been outstanding, I don't really have words for her," she said. "We're a better team this season and Katie (Thorlakson) gives us so much strength up front," said Alleway of the Victory's international recruits.
"We still have a few things to work on, we've got five Queenslanders in the team which is difficult to coordinate because we live so far away from each other, but we work for each other and that's what's great about the team this season."
MATCH DETAILS
Referee: Catherine Hofmann
Referee assistants: Elizabeth Hyland and Stan Tasic
Fourth official: Jonathon Barreiro
Melbourne Victory line-up: 1. Melissa BARBIERI (gk), 3. Marlies OOSTDAM, 5. Laura ALLEWAY, 6. Maika RUYTER-HOOLEY, 7. Sarah GROENEWALD (18. Ursula HUGHSON 64’), 8. Katie THORLAKSON (10. Deanna NICESKI 74’), 11. Julianne SITCH, 12. Monnique HANSEN KOFOED, 13. Katrina GORRY, 19. Enza BARILLA (4. Tal KARP 45’), 21. Kara MOWBRAY
Substitutes not used: 20. Nicole PAUL (gk)
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil
Sydney FC line-up: 1. Nikola DEITER (gk), 4. Alesha CLIFFORD, 6. Servet UZUNLAR, 7. Heather GARRIOCK (c), 8. Julie RYDAHL (13. Catherine CANNULI 81’), 9. Sarah WALSH, 10. Kylie LEDBROOK, 11. Cathrine PAASKE, 15. Kyah SIMON, 16. Linda O’NEILL, 19. Leena KHAMIS (12. Michelle CARNEY 81’)
Substitutes not used: 5. Lisa GILBERT, 20. Carla MONFORTE (gk)
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil