Canberra United won comfortably against Melbourne Victory on Saturday, in a game of two very different halves.

The first half was an arm wrestle, due in part to the heat, but also because the young Victory side kept a consistent shape that held off United; the second was a good display from Canberra of why they’ve gone undefeated at home since November last year.

Jenna McCormick opened the scoring minutes into the second half, running on to a great Michelle Heyman pass. Ashleigh Sykes turned on two defenders in the box and slotted a goal ten minutes later. Heyman scored late, converting with her second shot off a lovely Kendall Fletcher pass.

Canberra United - Key players and plays

After another successful week at home, Canberra United will be thrilled with their performance in round 10. On Saturday three of their round 9 scorers found the back of the net again, with another clean sheet to underline the dominance United has shown in December.

United coach Rae Dower talked about adjusting preparations in a week that saw high temperatures, knowing it was going to be hot Saturday.

Dower also had to tinker with the backline to replace captain Nicole Begg. “She had back spasms last week. And she had a lighter week at training, obviously played another stand out game."

"This week was the same. By about Wednesday or Thursday it just looked like it wasn’t going to come good.”

With the bye week ahead, Dower was able to rest United’s second most capped player. “We’ve got enough depth in the squad, Browny came in and played really well there. [Begg is] getting all the right treatment and fingers crossed she’s ready for the long trip to Perth.”

Jenna McCormick continues to shine, and showed great versatility moving from the front into Canberra’s backline to make way for Emma Kete, in her second start off the bench retuning from injury. McCormick trained early this season in the United backline, but has been performing well, scoring in consecutive weeks against former clubs.

Highlighting the culture in Canberra, she was confident about their performance. “We’re proving on the park how gelled we are, and how good we are as a team; that we can work for each other and work together and in the end get a result.”

Melbourne Victory - Key players and plays

The Victory squad that last faced United on a hot Geelong afternoon a year and one week ago in a semi-final going to penalties is a very different unit to the one in Canberra for round ten. Only three players from that team were on the pitch on Saturday, and one of them, Emma Checker, played for Canberra.

It was always going to be a hard task for Victory to contain Canberra, but the biggest surprise of the match was definitely that in the first half, they did. The heat was a factor, but Annabel Martin, Alexandra Natoli, Jamie Pollock, and particularly Thea Slatyer defended well. Captain Melissa Barbieri wasn’t immune from the attack entirely however, and kept the side in it as needed.

Barbieri conceded the game got away from her side in the second half. “It’s always hard in Canberra. The fans, the weather, the ground, it’s a fortress."

"It’s tough any day, but I think we did really well in the first half, to hold them off, and we were really organised. And then we came out in the second half and we just changed the game plan a little bit, and I think it just got us a little lost.”

As a side the confidence that should be taken from the match is that there is a good young squad taking shape in Victory, and they can set a game plan to stick to in difficult circumstances.

Similarly, for about twenty minutes in the second half, Canberra United lifted their work rate in defiance of the heat, and impressively, the Victory side went with them, for what became a frenetic end-to-end period. While they did concede in the last ten minutes, Victory kept their heads and were able to deny Canberra a fourth, who did not stop pressing.

Up Next

Canberra United sit in second place with a lead of 6 points on Sydney FC. After a successful home stand of games, in which they kept three clean sheets, and scored 9 goals, the Christmas treat is a bye week.

They next travel to Perth in the new year, but Dower already has an eye on finals, and a chance to meet the season’s dominant debutants Melbourne City, there. “We really want another crack at them.”

Melbourne Victory host Sydney FC next week on Sunday, and while no longer in finals contention, they play for pride and next season. They can also play spoiler where a congested ladder and a few surprise results have kept the back end of this season interesting.

Canberra United        3 (McCormick 47’, Sykes 56’, Heyman 81’)

Melbourne Victory    0

Saturday 19 December 2015

McKellar Park, Canberra

Kick-off: 5.00pm

Referee: Lara Lee

Canberra United: Lydia Williams (gk), Catherine Brown (Emma Kete 65’), Kendall Fletcher, Jenna McCormick, 6. Caitlin Munoz (3. Julia De Angelis 78’), Ellie Brush (c), Michelle Heyman (Meg McLaughlin 82’), Ashleigh Sykes, Emma Checker, Veronica Perez, Rebecca Kiting

Substitutes: Melissa Maizels Cautions:

Melbourne Victory: Melissa Barbieri (gk) (c), Alexandra Natoli, Melissa Taranto (Gulcan Koca 65’), Annabel Martin, Enza Barilla, Jamie Pollock, Christine Nairn, Melinda J Barbieri (Adriana Taranto 78’), Thea Slatyer, Hayley Raso (Whitney Knight 90’), Natasha Dowie

Substitutes: Cassandra Dimovski

Cautions: Hayley Raso 43’