City defeat Vista to secure Women’s National Premier League promotion

Adelaide City has achieved its 2026 objective of returning to the Apex Steel Women’s National Premier League South Australia after their promotion playoff victory against Modbury Vista on Saturday.

The Black and Whites sealed a 2-1 win to become the first Apex Women’s State League side to beat a WNPL SA team in the promotion playoff and return to top flight after suffering relegation a year earlier.

Natalie Frantzis opened the scoring with a composed one-on-one finish in the 22nd minute before Vista equalised in the second half only for Millie Scott to dispatch a free-kick moments later.

City head coach Paul Morris praised the team for their incredible efforts and was immensely proud of the squad.

“It’s one of joy, one of satisfaction, but the most pleasing is just for the playing group,” he told Adelaide City’s official website following the historic victory.

“The amount of time and effort and commitment they’ve put in this season.

“We got out our just rewards after a fantastic season in the league – just pipped with goal difference from Sturt.

“But to create history which is what we looked at all week was to be the first club ever to, one come straight back up after relegation but to also be the first state league team to beat a premier league team and win a playoff was fantastic.

“It’s immense pride but also satisfaction for the playing group and the girls for the efforts they’ve put in this season.”

City began with ascendency and they struck first when a perfectly weighted through ball from captain Ali Atkins played in Frantzis who kept her composure to clinically steer her finish beyond the goalkeeper.

The Oakden club failed to adequately clear their lines and were punished in the 73rd minute via a first-time strike from Caitlyn Williams.

However, parity was fleeting as Scott sent a curling free-kick across the goalkeeper to retake the lead three minutes later and cap off a phenomenal campaign.

Morris always believed his state league side would get the job done against a first division team and the team repaid that faith with a strong performance.

The boss admitted while finishing first would have been ideal, the club’s ultimate goal was to simply return to the premier competition, and it was something his staff were working on in the background while still battling Sturt for the title.

“We spoke about it when we got together in November, yes it would’ve been nice to have won the league but that’s not what we wanted – we wanted promotion,” he revealed.

“That was our aim all season and we knew going into the season that if we wanted to win the league or just miss out, we would play a premier league side in a playoff game and we built ourselves up to that (internally amongst the coaching staff) over the last four or five weeks – we didn’t portray that to the playing group.

“But we worked on the expectation that we could possibly play Modbury Vista or MetroStars and we looked at them and did our research on them and we were confident going into the game if we played either one.”

And Morris’s mindset was justified, despite being a state league outfit given City’s scintillating form.

“We thought we’d get the win, we’ve got the ability, we’ve got the talent and certainly have the structure and the playing style to add up against them,” he said.

“They struggled in their games, they had two wins all season and we had 17 and we played an attacking brand of football.

“So we always knew we would create chances it was just making sure we took them on the day, we were confident we would get the win and fortunately we did.”

Match Details

Adelaide City 2 (Frantzis 22’, Scott 76’)

Modbury Vista 1 (Williams 75’)

Apex Steel Promotional Play-Off

Saturday, 22 August 2026

ServiceFM Stadium, Pitch 2