Sydney FC stumble early, Pollicina stars for City

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Sydney FC stumble early, Pollicina stars for City

ROUND ONE OF THE A-LEAGUE WOMEN COMPETITION AT A GLANCE:

WOMAN OF THE WEEK: Melbourne City star Rhianna Pollicina was simply superb when her team needed her. City were trailing Perth 2-0 when Pollicina pounced to start their comeback. She put City 3-2 ahead with a wonderful curling strike from the edge of the box, and later teed up Laura Hughes for the final goal of an eventual 5-2 victory.

TALKING POINT: Are Sydney FC vulnerable? The defending champions have dealt with plenty of personnel changes, losing the likes of Cortnee Vine, Charlotte McLean and Jada Whyman. Their championship defence started with a whimper and a 3-1 away loss to Central Coast.

STAT *******: In 34 games for Melbourne Victory, Maja Markovski scored just three goals and never more than one in a game. Released by Victory at the end of 2022-23 and missing last season, she earned a shot at Canberra. In just her first game in green, she scored two goals in a 4-2 win over Brisbane.

BEAT THAT: With Victory and Adelaide locked at 1-1 and chasing a winner, Melbourne teenager Ava Briedis struck. In the 92nd minute, she picked up the ball on the left, cut on to her right from the left side of the penalty box and unleashed a cracking winner off the underside of the crossbar. A wonderful long-range strike from Perth forward Kelli Brown on Sunday will take some beating too.

UNDER PRESSURE: Wellington impressed for part of their match against Western ******* but were brought completely undone by a half-hour spell of shambolic defending in their 4-2 loss in Tarneit. It was also a tough round for the league’s goalkeepers, with some horror errors in several games.

UP NEXT: Western ******* host the Mariners on Friday night. On Saturday afternoon, Victory and City face off in their first derby of the season, while Sydney face Brisbane away. Canberra travel to play Wellington on Sunday, while Western Sydney host Adelaide, and Perth take on the Jets.

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