Holly Mac, City claim breakthrough A-League Women title
Melbourne City finally has their first post-Galácticos A-League Women title. And they've got their talisman, their poster-child of their new era, Holly McNamara, to thank for sparking it.
It had to be Holly McNamara. After two years of the heartache of claiming the Premiers’ Plate only to fall in their pursuit of the title, Melbourne City are the queens of Australian football once more. For the first time since they fielded a Galácticos unit laden with internationals, they are the champions of the A-League Women, defeating Wellington Phoenix 3-1 at AAMI Park on Saturday afternoon. And they have two special goals from their talisman, McNamara, to thank for sparking it.
With their fifth title, City has now drawn level with Sydney FC for the most in league history, with their ten overall trophies also matching the Sky Blues. At the conclusion of their first decade in the A-League Women, however, no club can approach City’s claim of winning an average of one trophy a season.
On an individual level, a group built for a new era of the A-League Women, emphasising the development of new stars rather than their recruitment, has added a signature championship that has eluded them, while their skipper, Rebekah Stott, now has a sixth A-League Women title to her name — the most of any player in the league’s history. The Kiwi defender’s legacy, already unimpeachable, has become even more legendary.
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Alas, the champagne will need to be kept on ice for now. Rather than going home tonight, City’s players will attend a short function at AAMI Park before getting on a bus to a hotel by Melbourne Airport, one that will allow them to get something of a decent night’s sleep before they’re on a flight to Suwon at 7.30 tomorrow morning for their AFC Women’s Champions League clash with Tokyo Verdy Beleza on Wednesday evening. Win that, and they’ll get a chance to take on Naegohyang or Suwon in Saturday’s final to complete what would be the most successful treble in Australian football history.
How did they get here? With just under five minutes remaining in the opening stanza, City having had the best of the game to that point without landing a telling blow, McNamara found herself in space outside the penalty area and on a decent angle. The safe thing to do, the smart thing to do, would have been to look for Bryleeh Henry’s run to the back post, or Leah Davidson, who was making a run to the top of the six-yard box. But players of McNamara’s calibre don’t operate with the same kind of rules as most. So, instead, with an almost casual ease, she swivelled and lofted a perfectly weighted chip over the head of Victoria Esson to put her side ahead.
But she wasn’t done. Far from it. Moments later, Shelby McMahon was winning the ball in the midfield, turning one opponent and then, before she was converged upon, lacing a pass behind the Phoenix’s line for the striker’s perfectly-timed run. Subtlety wasn’t required here, and neither was it provided; McNamara simply marched into the penalty area and rifled a shot across Esson to make it two goals in three minutes.
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If this was to be McNamara’s last game in the A-League Women, and there’s been plenty of speculation that the time is now for her to move overseas and test herself at a higher level, then this was the kind of performance she would have wanted to sign off with. That, in fact, goes for several members of this City side, the likes of Laura Hughes, Leticia McKenna, Leah Davidson, and more, all anticipated to draw overseas interest either as free agents or in the transfer market.
Seemingly not having learned their lesson from the amount of time and space they afforded McNamara for her first, the Phoenix defence gave McKenna a moment of her own when they allowed her to get into the act in the 49th minute – watching on as the newly-capped Matilda looked up, found herself in space and lasered a left-footed effort into the top corner.
Makala Woods’ remarkable goalscoring exploits continued when she dragged one back for the visitors just three minutes later, sparking a period in which Bev Priestman’s side took control of the contest and created a series of really good chances. But when City wasn’t able to scramble the danger clear, then Malena Mieres proved up to the task of denying them. And eventually, the sting of this attempted comeback went out of the Phoenix, as City re-established themselves over the contest as time wore on.