The star Matildas trio led by WAIS scholarship holder Collette McCallum has inspired Perth Glory Women to three points in a 1-0 victory over Newcastle Jets at ME Bank Stadium.
A solitary strike awarded to McCallum separated both teams at the end of play, despite Perth having plenty of chances to finish off the Jets with McCallum, Lisa De Vanna and Emma Wirkus all impressing for the home side.
Perth Glory Women coach John Gibson was thrilled with the way his team responded to last week’s disappointment.
“We wanted to come home and put on a fairly good performance, which we did today,” he said.
The Glory began strongly with Elisa D’Ovidio combining well with De Vanna in the final third, creating several chances early on to keep the pressure on the Newcastle defence.
De Vanna’s pass to D’Ovidio on the edge of the area saw the latter shoot low at the bottom-right of the goal, but her effort travelled just wide of the upright.
The same combination had another close call with the back of the net when D’Ovidio’s effort was bound for the top corner.
Newcastle Jets goalkeeper Alison Logue saved the visitors’ blushes by getting just a fingertip to the rocket-shot, as the ball went out for a corner.
McCallum stepped up and curled in a great left-foot effort, which entered the six-yard box with only Logue to beat.
Logue tussled with De Vanna as the ball went in between the pair and came off the Glory striker’s back and into the goal – with the strike given to McCallum.
Newcastle’s Leia Smith and Kate Hensman worked well inside the area and somehow failed to find the target after a goalmouth scramble moments after the Glory’s opener.
Perth nearly increased its lead on the half hour mark, but Danielle Calautti couldn’t cleanly hit her shot after great lead-up play from De Vanna.
The lightning pace of Caitlin Jarvie nearly brought Perth’s dominance undone, but Matildas ‘keeper Emma Wirkus was able to save the danger, as she did all afternoon in a commanding display between the sticks.
Newcastle bounced back in the second half and managed to hit the goalpost early on, with Sadie Lawrence clearing the loose ball.
The frustration soon told on the visitors as Smith blasted a shot off the side of her boot on the edge of the area, when she should have done better.
Hensman tried to inspire the Jets with a fantastic shot on goal, with only Wirkus denying an equalizer.
As the match drew to a close, McCallum nearly doubled her side’s lead with only 10 minutes to play – but her set-piece could only find the side netting.
Referee Lee Corey brought the match to a close following a nervous three minutes of injury-time for the Glory, but the team’s first victory of the season was a great result following last weekend’s loss to Melbourne.
Gibson had praise for all three of his Matildas but singled out Wirkus’ match and her contribution to the team.
“We needed a really good goalkeeper (this season) and she’s a wonderful character,” he said.
“She’s been a fantastic addition to the squad and had a very strong performance for us today.”
Perth will host Canberra United at Clipsal Stadium next Saturday afternoon with kick-off at 3pm.
– Football West
