Western Sydney Wanderers took home all three points from Macedonia Park after beating Perth Glory 2-0 on Sunday, becoming the first away team to win in Perth since Western United’s 3-2 victory on New Year’s Day 2023.
A brace from Sophie Harding earned the points, and her goal tally for the season now stands at eight, equal top of the Golden Boot race with Canberra’s Vesna Milivojevic. It was a historic day for Harding – not only is her eight goal tally the highest by a Wanderers player in a single season, but she is also now the Wanderers’ all-time leading scorer.
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Perth Glory needs more goalscorers and more shots
After opening their campaign with four straight wins and scoring eight goals in the process, Glory have since won just two of their last seven games. They have scored another eight goals in those seven games, but have only scored twice in the last four games, and have been goalless in three of those four.
Only Millie Farrow has found the net for them since Round 5, and she has now found the net on six occasions.
This over-reliance on Farrow proved to be Glory’s undoing against Western Sydney on Sunday as the visitors were able to concentrate their defensive efforts on the Englishwoman, knowing that she was Glory’s only goal threat.
Goals need to come from more sources if Glory are to maintain their push for a home finals berth, and coach Alex Epakis will surely be asking for more from Grace Jale, Susan Phonsongkham and Sofia Sakalis in this area.
To score those goals they also need to improve their shooting stats, as they are currently the lowest in the league with just 93 shots in all 11 games (only 39 on target). Their xG (expected goals) is also the lowest in the league at 11.8, compared to league leaders Melbourne City with 27.5.
Sophie Harding
The Wanderers spearhead demonstrated with her two goals that she is fast becoming the league’s most dangerous player.
Her pace has never been questioned. Under Robbie Hooker’s guidance she is now learning to harness that to lethal effect by making runs designed to hurt the opposition, and her finishing has been of the highest order this season.
Harding’s two goals on Sunday were great examples of her abilities. The first one was a reflex first-time shot that had enough spin to dip beneath the bar and over the despairing dive of Glory’s Morgan Aquino, whilst her second demonstrated how dangerous she is with the ball at her feet, as she turned Jessika Cowart inside out before finishing with terrific composure.
In his post-match comments, Hooker expanded on Harding’s growth as a player:
“In the first couple of games, she didn’t really even look like scoring, and she wasn’t making forward runs in the first three or four games. (But) as soon as you start to teach an attacking player with her speed (how) to make forward runs at the right time, then you’ve got a bit of a weapon on your hands.
“She’s also a quick learner, is coachable and these are really good signs for a player. She’s got a big future ahead of her,” he said.
Glory’s coach, Alex Epakis, also spoke about Harding during his post-match comments and admitted that despite having a plan for her they couldn’t deal with her on the day:
“We prepped well for her, but I guess you know, there’s always that point where there’s one thing preparing for and another thing actioning it,” he said.
Western Sydney are a tough nut to crack
Coming into the game, the Wanderers had conceded just two goals in their previous five outings. Their defensive resilience was on show again as they kept Glory at arm’s length, restricting them to just nine shots and only 16 touches in their penalty box. A key reason for this defensive display was the performance of ex-Matilda Amy Harrison, who marshalled her back three superbly.
Hooker spoke glowingly of her after the game:
“Amy’s been first class, not only in the role she’s playing at the moment, but as a leader, and captain of the team. In the first two or three games she was playing in midfield and she would probably be the first to admit she probably doesn’t have the legs anymore to play there.
“We made a conscious move to go from four at the back to three and I said to her, I think you can be the best libero central defender in a back three in the league because you’ve got all the qualities that a player like that needs to have.
“Most central defenders these days aren’t quite capable of bringing the ball out from the back if they’re under pressure (or in a) 1v1 situation, but she has the ability to sort of open up the hips and look to go one way and then bring the ball out and you saw that a few times tonight. She’s also very calm and composed,” he said.
Morgan Aquino is keeping Glory in the title hunt
After Glory conceded their second goal there were still 18 minutes left for them to try and salvage something from the game. To do so they needed to ensure they didn’t concede any more goals and they were heavily indebted to their goalkeeper, Morgan Aquino, for keeping the score down to just two. Aquino seemed to be having a personal battle with Harding to prevent her from getting a hat trick, making 11 saves in total during the game, with most of them against Harding.
Glory have had more shots against them than any other team in the league and on Sunday they faced 25 shots – 17 inside the box and 13 on target. Aquino has made more saves than any other keeper in the league (68) and she has been a key reason why Glory is still in second spot.
The fixture schedule is not helping Glory
After losing their first game at home in a year, Glory will be keen to try and rectify matters. However, they are not being helped by the fixturing for Unite Round, which sees them face Melbourne Victory on Friday afternoon in Sydney.
This will mean a travel day on Thursday, leaving Epakis and his coaching staff with just three days to try and iron out the wrinkles from Sunday’s performance. Victory will be especially keen for three points as they were displaced from the top 6 by the Wanderers and they will be a mighty test for Glory.
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