In the words of Sheryl Crow, “Everyday is a winding road” and those words could well be on the lips of both Melbourne Victory and Canberra United after the green machine defeated Victory in front of a record crowd at Etihad Stadium.

To be honest, perhaps Crow’s lyrics are the story of the W-League season so far, with inconsistency and upsets the narrative so far.

To put it simply, Canberra deservedly won this match because they scored a goal and Melbourne didn’t.

The drought breaking goal from Ashleigh Sykes set Canberra up early and whilst Victory had oodles of ‘almost’ chances, frustratingly for them, each one was thwarted. All too frequently, Lisa De Vanna was up forward with little to no support.

Melbourne have perhaps relied a little too heavily on their speed so far, not a bad move given the pace of De Vanna, but in Canberra they found their match. Sykes and Michelle Heyman offered up plenty of speed of their own, with the attacking Sykes sprinting up the left wing and Heyman presenting a dual threat of pace and aerial ability.

Victory captain, Steph Catley, offered glimpses of inspiration with her pressing runs along the left flank, amplifying the excitement with some precision crosses but Canberra and ‘keeper, Chantel Jones, were always up to the task.

Seattle Reign import, Elli Reed, played some determined football and looked impressive pushing along the right side, but it wasn’t enough as Victory broke down and lost their way the closer they got to goal.

Midfield leader Christine Nairn highlighted that Victory are capable of great football but need to put it all together for 90 minutes.

“We are kind of inconsistent right now. Not that we can’t play well for 90 minutes. I think it’s just our next task at hand that we need to accomplish.”

“We get to the game and we’re a little bit nervous, excited, all these things and we kind of stray away from our game plan. We need to stick to that. Joe [Montemurro] is a great coach and he knows exactly what he needs and wants from us. We just need to put it on the field.” she said.

On the flip side, Canberra were strong in the midfield. Lori Lindsey is playing some foxy football. Where she lacks pace, she makes up for it with intelligence, hard work and cunning skills.

Grace Field and Ellie Brush were both solid in defence for Canberra and they seldom appeared troubled. Whether that was more through Melbourne’s inability to maintain their structure and stick to their game plan, or that Canberra across the board were so capable of shutting down the Victory threat. In truth, it was probably a combination of both.

Either way both teams will need to get it together if they’re going to secure a finals berth and be a real threat, hopefully chanting “We Are The Champions” at the end of it all.

Note: this review contains all of my musical knowledge, and even that I had to google.

Melbourne Victory 0

Canberra United 1 (Ashleigh Sykes 29’)

Saturday 25 October 2014

Etihad Stadium, Melbourne

Local kick-off: 4.45pm

Referee: Kelly Jones

Melbourne Victory: Cassandra Dimovski (gk), Hannah Brewer (Racheal Quigley 72’), Lauren Barnes, Gema Simon (Beattie Goad 65’), Stephanie Catley, Amy Jackson, Christine Nairn, Lisa De Vanna, Ella Mastrantonio, Emma Checker, Elli Reed

Substitutes – Tori Snelleksz (gk), Gulcan Koca

Cautions – Lisa De Vanna 48’, Ella Mastrantonio 56’

Canberra United: Chantel Jones (gk), Kendall Fletcher, Grace Field, Caitlin Munoz (Julia De Angelis 72’), Ellie Brush, Michelle Heyman, Sally Rojahn, Nicole Begg, Ashleigh Sykes (Grace Maher 93’), Lori Lindsey, Stephanie Ochs

Substitutes – Melissa Maizels (gk), Catherine Brown

Cautions – Ellie Brush 89’