City close gap with statement win over ladder leaders Sturt

Adelaide City has secured a brilliant 3-0 away win against Apex Steel Women’s State League leaders Sturt Lions on Friday night to move within two points of the competition’s pacesetters.

Nakita Pereira got the visitors going when she opened the scoring in the 26th minute following a great and run and cross from Millie Scott.

After an end-to-end first half, City were able to control the majority of the second stanza, scoring two goals.

“It was a good game, the girls were up for it,” Head Coach Morris told Adelaide City’s official website upon reflection after the game.

“The first half was a bit back and forth. They came out and really went for us and we defended very well.

“Our structures were good and we identified a couple of weaknesses they had in their full-back and wide areas and our first goal came from identifying that weakness.”

In the second half, Scott won a penalty as she was clipped when through on goal and confidently converted her spot kick on 64 minutes to double the advantage.

Substitute Natalie Frantzis ensured the valuable three points would be heading back to Oakden when her individual finish made it 3-0 in stoppage time to inflict the Lions’ first loss of the WSL season.

The result means City move to 17 points, two off Sturt who remain on 19 points after eight matches.

Morris was thrilled especially with his side’s second-half showing and how they were able to overrun their opposition.

“Our second-half performance was excellent,” he explained.

“We were far better in the second half than the first half.

“We spoke at half time where they had probably peaked at 100% where they’d give everything and we still had 20 or 25 per cent to go again and we did, as we did the week before at Birkalla.

“The performance was very professional and we got the result.”

The boss was also pleased with the fact he can rely on several different goalscorers, while also praising the team’s fitness levels and ability to finish games with the ascendancy– crediting Strength and Conditioning coach Kane Crooks.

“It’s nice to have a reliable goalscorer who gets you 20 goals but we share the goals around, so we’re not relying on that one person which is our strength,” he said.

“But definitely running games out has been our strength this season has been our fitness.

“We’ve had a good preseason Kano (Kane Crooks) our S&C Coach has come on board this season and done a fantastic job with the group and we’re still running on top of the ground in the last couple of minutes where other teams are shot and done and we can keep going.

“Yas (Yasmina Kasumovic) came off and didn’t do much of a preseason with injury so it was her first start last night.

“So it was expected she wouldn’t finish the 90 minutes, but it was pleasing the rest of the players with their fitness and ended up getting a well-deserved win.”

The only negative from the contest was a serious ankle injury to centre-back Sophie McGrath who had to be replaced in the 13th minute. Morris suggested she could be on the sidelines for a couple of months.

City return to Adelaide City Park to face Cove FC on Saturday, 9 May 2026.

Match Details

Sturt Lions 0

Adelaide City 3 (Pereira 26’, Scott 64’ (p), Frantzis 90+3’)

Apex Steel Women’s State League – Round 8

Friday, 1 May 2026

Karinya Reserve