Western United mounted another trademark comeback in the A-League Women to claim a priceless 2-1 win over local rivals Melbourne Victory on Sunday.
Mark Torcaso made one change to his starting 11, and it was a big one, Matildas’ star Chloe Logarzo led the team out as captain in her first start for the Club.
Alyssa Dall’Oste continued in goal and joined Grace Maher in making her home debut, while Lucy Richards was named on the bench for the first time.
Looking to right some of the wrongs from last week, United started this game with a much higher tempo, looking to get forward early with Kahli Johnson getting a few looks at Jessika Nash on the left-hand side.
United’s early impetus ultimately amounted to nothing and Victory were able to get up the other end and take the lead in the 15th minute.
Western United continued to work to find a footing in the game and slowly began to show positive signs in possession, knocking the ball from side to side and getting into the final third.
Johnson won a corner that was flicked on by Hannah Keane before deflecting out for another corner, and that set piece nearly resulted in an own goal with Victory clearing their lines in the nick of time.
United continued in that vein and dominated much of the back end of the first half, with the only thing missing being the equalising goal to show for it.
Immediately out of half time, United sought to continue its spell of dominance but couldn’t quite enjoy the say some success in possession.
Against the wind, it became increasingly difficult for United to work the ball up the pitch but there remained some nice passages of play to work the ball higher up the pitch.
The Green and Black began to edge further forward and after a couple of corners in quick succession, Torcaso’s team finally had its equaliser.
Adriana Taranto’s in-swinging delivery held up slightly in the wind and her sister was alive to it, with Melissa nipping in front of Williams and flicking the ball into the net despite Kayla Morrison’s best efforts on the goal line.
From there, Victory began to take the ascendancy and held more of the possession, making it difficult for United to get out of the defensive third.
But United wasn’t to be deterred, showing its customary grit and determination to wrestle the lead on the stroke of injury time.
After winning the corner from which it came, substitute Hieda scored her first professional goal, steaming in to finish from virtually on the goal line after Williams had saved Keane’s effort up into the air.
“I thought we played quite well to be honest, I thought we kept possession of the ball,” coach Mark Torcaso said.
“We probably didn’t do it so well in the first 25 minutes or so but once we regained confidence in possession in that last 10 minutes of the first half we looked pretty solid.
“We brought that into the second half and then we were confident we could find a way to score.
“Just the way that we remained composed in possession in the way we built up was really satisfying.
“The conditions were pretty difficult for the girls.”
The women are on international break next week as Torcaso heads to coach the Philippines women’s national team.
“To get three points before the [international] break is so important for us and I’m so proud of the girls today and they deserved that win,” Torcaso said.
Following the break, United will play Melbourne City at City Vista at 4pm on Sunday November, 5.
