Perth Glory coach Alex Epakis has praised the character of his side after they secured their first win of the A-League Women season by rebounding from a two-goal deficit for a 3-2 win over Canberra United.
Put in a hole by early strikes from Nikki Flannery and Vesna Milivojevic, Glory took some hope into the break thanks to Rylee Baisden’s goal in first-half stoppage time.
That hope was subsequently converted by Cyera Hintzen and by Baisden’s second as Glory stormed to victory at Perth’s Macedonia Park on Sunday.
It was a hard-fought but deserved result for coach Alex Epakis’ side, who will next visit Melbourne City on December 27 after a bye.
Defeated for the first time this season, Canberra will also face City next, in their clash on December 23.
“It’s a performance built on resilience and character,” Epakis said.
“We went down 2-0, it wasn’t the start that we wanted but the players knew that this was really important today, to get something.
“We had no doubt internally … we knew we’re capable of results and performances like that against strong teams – it was just a matter of doing it.”
Powering down the right, ALW legend Michelle Heyman sent the visitors off to a strong start when she put the ball on a platter for Flannery in the 13th minute, the 23-year-old scoring her first goal since a knee reconstruction.
Glory responded with back-to-back chances to Hannah Lowry and Hintzen but Canberra struck again when Milivojevic, benefiting from Grace Jale’s build-up play, fired home in the 34th minute.
Glory kept coming, with Lowry and Alana Jancevski looming ominously, and eventually struck late first-half gold when a corner spilled to Baisden to sweep home.
“That was like the life support starting back up again. It was critical,” Epakis said.
Eight minutes into the second half, the home side were level when Hintzen darted to her left to gain a yard of space on defender Kennedy Faulknor and blasted an effort beyond Chloe Lincoln.
The comeback was complete on 69 minutes when Hintzen flicked a ball over her head and into the path of Baisden, who slid a nice shot beyond the keeper to grab the ascendancy.
Dogged Canberra were still creating chances throughout this period, although Milivojevic spurned a clear chance in the 73rd minute, but Glory were able to hang on.
