A hat-trick from Melbourne Victory skipper Natasha Dowie was enough to hand Sydney FC a 3-2 loss at Jubilee Stadium this afternoon in what was a highly entertaining ‘Big Blue’ W-League contest.
Sydney FC 2 (Logarzo 40’, Kennedy 83’) def. by Melbourne Victory 3 (Dowie 5’, 45’ (Pen.), 51’)
A hat-trick from Melbourne Victory skipper Natasha Dowie was enough to hand Sydney FC a 3-2 loss at Jubilee Stadium this afternoon in what was a highly entertaining ‘Big Blue’ W-League contest.
Moments That Mattered:
- DOWIE GOAL – 5’ – After some early pressure from the Sky Blues, the Victory skipper takes her first opportunity of the match and finishes beautifully into the bottom-right corner.
- LOGARZO GOAL’ – 40’ – Sustained pressure from Sydney FC pays off as Logarzo finishes off some beautiful lead-up play from De Vanna and Huerta to level the scores before the break.
- DOWIE PENALTY – 45’ – A dubious call from the officials gifts Victory their second goal as Dowie makes no mistake from the spot.
- DOWIE HATTRICK – 51’ – Another chance in the area falls at the feet of the Victory captain and she makes no mistake, increasing her side’s lead to 3-1 early in the second half.
- KENNEDY GOAL – 83’ – After a foul just outside the box, Alanna Kennedy produced a screamer in her first game of the season to give the Sky Blues a late chance to share the points.
A hotly-contested first half looked set to be on level terms heading into the half-time break until a late penalty to the away side gifted them a 2-1 lead.
Victory skipper Natasha Dowie pounced on an early chance to give her side the lead after just five minutes, but it was the Sky Blues who dominated large portions of the first half, and it finally paid off just minutes before the break with a smart finish from inside the six-yard box from Chloe Logarzo.
A harsh penalty decision five minutes later meant Melbourne would go into the sheds with the advantage, but the sustained pressure from Sydney throughout the majority of the half showed plenty of promise.
Victory took their lead to 3-1 not long after the break as Dowie scored her third and despite plenty of promising attack from the Sky Blues, they couldn’t manage to get themselves back into the contest as the away side’s defence held firm throughout.
A second yellow card to Angela Beard with less than ten minutes left on the clock gave Alanna Kennedy the chance to belt home a spectacular free kick from the edge of the box, but it wasn’t enough to get the home side back into the game in the dying stages.
What They Said:
Ante Juric:
“We dominated today and when that happens, we open ourselves up and we can’t stop a lot of it. We need to be a bit smarter and keep the ball but when we dominate the way that we usually do its always going to open up opportunities down the other end so that’s certainly something to work on.
“We had a real sporadic pre-season with so many girls involved with the Matildas, and its been hard to settle in. It is taking us a while to do that just like it did last year, but once we get there we will connect well. We played well today but lacked fluency and that comes from training and playing together; I am positive we can get there its just going to take a bit more time.”
Alanna Kennedy:
“Physically I feel fine and been feeling good for a few weeks now. Obviously today was my first game back with a lot of new players, but I was pretty happy with how comfortable I felt with the girls and everyone is quite encouraging on the field. Altogether I feel quite good after coming back from my surgery.”
Sydney FC: 1. Aubrey BLEDSOE (GK) 2. Teresa POLIAS © 6. Chloe LOGARZO 7. Rachel SOUTAR (17. HRISTODOULOU 77’) 9. Caitlin FOORD 11. Lisa DE VANNA 12. Natalie TOBIN 14. Alanna KENNEDY 20. Princess IBINI (10. MCCASKILL 59’) 22. Sofia HUERTA 23. Danielle COLAPRICO
SUBS NOT USED: 18. Taylor RAY 30. Trudy BURKE (GK)
Yellow Cards: None.
Red Cards: None.
Melbourne Victory: 1. Casey DUMONT (GK) 3. Teigan ALLEN 5. Laura ALLEWAY 7. Christine NAIRN 8. Angela BEARD 9. Natasha DOWIE © 14. Meline AYRES (BARBIERI 40’) 15. Emily GIELNIK 16. Samantha JOHNSON 17. Danielle WEATHERHOLT 18. Grace MAHER (10. COONEY-CROSS 77’)
SUBS NOT USED: 6. Annabel MARTIN 20. Belinda MASON-JONES
Yellow Cards: 8. Beard 36’
Red Cards: 8. Beard 82’
Ground: Jubilee Oval
Crowd: 5,540
Referee: Rachel Mitchenson
