Ninja A-League Week 2 results: Central Coast Mariners and Melbourne City dominate to stay perfect

Ninja A-League Week 2 results: Central Coast Mariners and Melbourne City dominate to stay perfect This week’s Ninja A-League action saw Canberra United get their campaign underway as they travelled to Gosford to take on the Central Coast Mariners. Elsewhere, Sydney FC’s mettle was tested as they hosted champions Melbourne City. Here’s how Week Two panned out across the league. Western Sydney Wanderers 3-1 Brisbane Roar Western Sydney recovered from an early Sofia Sakalis own goal to record their first win of the season. Murphy Agnew’s in-swinging free-kick was headed past her own goalkeeper by Sakalis with just seven minutes gone. Milly Bennett drew a sharp stop from Brisbane goalkeeper Tahlia Franco, but from the resulting corner, the hosts levelled through Sofia Palywoda’s header after 15 minutes. Western Sydney should’ve taken the lead six minutes later, but Elexa Bahr blazed over from a matter of yards out. Embed from Getty Images Daisy Brown went close with an audacious attempt from halfway on the 30-minute mark. Into the second half, Talia Younis gave Western Sydney the lead from the spot after Sakalis was hauled down. Brooke Miller’s first goal of the season sealed the points with a composed finish out of reach of Franco. The result means Brisbane start the season with back-to-back losses. Central Coast Mariners 5-1 Canberra United A ruthless display from the Mariners saw them demolish Canberra United in Gosford. Skye Halmarick got her side off to a dream start with just six minutes played. She got ahead of her marker to turn home a Danika Matos cross. Talia Kapetanelis doubled the lead on the half-hour, heading home Peta Trimis’ ball into the box. The Mariners took full advantage of some hesitant Canberra defending as Te Reremoana Walker added a third 10 minutes into the second half. Embed from Getty Images Kapetanelis doubled her tally, poking home another Matos cross before Alexia Karrys-Stahl scored a wonderful effort to make it five-nil. Sienna Dale’s scantest of consolation goals was too little, too late for a Canberra side who start the new season in ignominious fashion. Adelaide United 0-0 Perth Glory Adelaide and Perth played a scoreless draw in a game that offered little in the way of goalmouth action. The Glory were nearly masters of their own downfall with 30 minutes played as a sloppy pass from Baxter Thew was intercepted by Adriana Taranto. The Adelaide midfielder took aim from 25 yards out, but could only fire over. Twin sister Mel Taranto was denied by Alyssa Dall’Oste just after halftime as the Reds looked the most likely to make the breakthrough. Embed from Getty Images The Glory’s first shot on target of the afternoon finally arrived with 75 minutes gone. Brontë Trew’s effort from the edge of the box was easily fielded by Ilona Melegh. Perth will be the happier of the two sides and head back west with four points from their first two games on the eastern seaboard. Wellington Phoenix 1-1 Melbourne Victory Wellington recorded their first point of the season as they hosted a second side from Melbourne in as many weeks. Victory took the lead with five minutes of the first half remaining. Sophie Harding’s cross was caught by the wind, causing all sorts of problems for Nix keeper Victoria Esson. She could only slap the ball down into the path of Holly Furphy who still had work to do, but finished well through a crowd of Phoenix players. Wellington made the early running in the second half. Tameka Yallop was denied a tap-in by some alert goalkeeping from Courtney Newbon before the hosts levelled the contest after 63 minutes. Embed from Getty Images Brooke Nunn picked up a loose ball before driving into the box. She cut the ball back to Makala Woods who fired home at the first time of asking from 10 yards out. Victory went close from a corner with fifteen minutes left before Wellington’s Emma Taylor-Main was denied a late winner when her header hit the post.   Sydney FC 0-5 Melbourne City Cortnee Vine returned to haunt her old club as Melbourne City ran riot at Allianz Stadium against Sydney FC. Vine opened the scoring inside fifteen minutes, ghosting in unmarked at the back post to turn home Aideen Keane’s cross. Three minutes later, Momo Hayashi struck from 20 yards out to double the City lead. Things only got worse for Sydney as the first half wore on. Keane was causing havoc on the wing. With 24 minutes gone, she danced into the box before being dispossessed by Charlotte McClean. Unfortunately for Sydney, the ball fell to Deven Jackson who curled home a third past Tiahna Robertson. Embed from Getty Images A defensive mix-up on the 30 minute mark saw McClean head past her own keeper as City went 4-0 up before half-time. It might have got better still for City, but Keane smashed the crossbar four minutes later. Melina Ayres added a fifth from the spot when Keane was fouled before Robertson pulled out a brilliant stop to tip another Ayres effort onto the bar a minute later. Aimee Medwin had a header cleared off the line late on for City in a game that sums up the very different directions these two sides have gone in over the past couple of years.  Related articles from Her Football Hub: Ninja A-League results: Central Coast Mariners take early lead with impressive win over Brisbane Roar Sydney Sweeney’s Novig ad: What does it mean to represent women’s sports? Ninja A-League preview: Premiers and Champions Melbourne City eyeing another successful season