Perth Glory remain top of the W-League standings after they played out a pulsating 3-3 draw with Canberra United at Intiga Stadium on Saturday.
Perth Glory remain top of the W-League standings after they played out a pulsating 3-3 draw with Canberra United at Intiga Stadium on Saturday.
The result means Canberra slip to fourth after Brisbane and Melbourne leapfrog them courtesy of Saturday wins.
Canberra controlled the early play without being dominant before Madeline Washington opened the scoring on 24 minutes.
Washington knocked home a volley from 15 yards after an attempted cross took a deflection, popped up in the air and landed with the striker.
Perth responded with a burst when they scored two goals in two minutes.
First, Aivi Luik tapped home from virtually on the goal line after Mackenzie Arnold parried a Kathryn Gill header back into a dangerous area.
With their very next attack, Perth took the lead through Elizabeth Milne when she chipped a shot home from 15 yards.
Arnold was able to get the slightest of touches on the shot to help it into the top corner.
Perth took control shortly after the restart when a catastrophic mix-up at the back from Canberra handed the Glory their third.
Canberra captain Ellie Bush over-hit an attempted headed back pass to her keeper, which went over Arnold’s head and allowed Elisa D’ovidio to run into an open goal and head home.
Caitlin Cooper brought the game level again when she buried a 30-yard strike, which gave Maja Blasch no chance.
In an end-to-end finish both teams had their chances to win the game.
On 86 minutes Canberra looked certain to snatch the lead when miscommunication saw Blasch out of place on the right and a cross come into the box towards an open Ashleigh Sykes, only for Carys Hawkins to arrive in the nick of time for Perth and clear.
Just two minutes later, Luik hit the crossbar with a strike that had Arnold beaten.
The rebound fell to Kathryn Gill for Perth but the visitors had enough bodies inside the box to stop the strike.
In her first W-League game, Blasch prevented Hayley Raso with a brilliant reflex save after she had rushed off her line in the 77th-minute.
Perth Glory 3 (Luik 34, Milne 35, D’ovidio 49)
Canberra United 3 (Washington 24, Raso 44 Cooper 70)
Perth Glory: 3. Carys Hawkins, 4. Bronwyn Studman, 6. Sasha Andrews (c), 7. Aivi Luik, 8. Ella Mastrantonio (9. Rosie Sutton 8), 11. Lisa de Vanna, 12. Kathryn Gill, 13. Elisa D’ovidio (14. Collette McCallum 53), 15. Elizabeth Milne, 17. Marianna Tabian (5. Shannon May 68), 30. Maja Blasch (GK)
Canberra United 1. Mackenzie Arnold (GK), 2. Caitlin Cooper, 6. Caitlin Munoz, 7. Ellie Brush (c), 8. Hayley Raso, 11. Michelle Heyman, 13. Nicole Sykes, 16. Catherine Brown (14. Ashleigh Sykes 73), 17. Ariane Hingst (9. Grace Gill 63), 19.Jennifer Bisset, 21. Madeline Washington (3. Georgia Yeoman-Dale)
Perth Bench: 5. Shannon May, 9. Rosie Sutton, 14. Collette McCallum, 20. Zoe Palandri (GK)
Canberra Bench: 3. Georgia Yeoman-Dale, 9. Grace Gill, 14. Ashleigh Sykes, 20. Trudy Burkle (GK)
