Western United scored another important three points on home soil, defeating Adelaide United 1-0 in a tight contest at City Vista on Sunday evening in the A-League Women’s.
United sought to set the tempo early and get the ball under control, looking to play forward and stretch Adelaide’s defence from the outset.
A seemingly extra slick pitch made it slippery underfoot and had the ball zipping away from players in possession as United struggled to execute that fast-paced game plan.
Adelaide finished the half the stronger of the two sides and Hillary Beall made an extraordinary save to keep it at 0-0 going into the break, sprawling to her left to tip Isabel Hodgson’s one-on-one effort around the post.
Coach Kat Smith made two changes at the interval which prompted a tweak in the team shape. Natasha Dakic came on to form the centre of a back three, and Hannah Keane joined the action up front.
That change and the wind behind the team’s collective back prompted a fast start to the second half as Analee Grove was kept busy in the Adelaide goal, making two excellent saves to deny Logarzo and another two to deny Melissa Taranto and Jaclyn Sawicki.
Tyla Jay Vlajnic then fired inches wide from a free-kick delivered by Alana Cerne before the goal finally came to reward United’s electric restart.
It was produced brilliantly from a throw-in on the left wing as the ball moved quickly from Logarzo to Sawicki to Hieda, who took an excellent touch to beat her defender, a second to set herself and a third to expertly blast her finish into the corner.
It ended in a win that could have easily been more comfortable, but an important win nonetheless to shoot the Green and Black back up into third place on the table.
