Sydney FC into seventh straight A-League Women decider
Sydney FC coach Ante Juric has hailed his players after they overcame player turnover and injuries to reach a seventh consecutive A-League Women grand final.
The Sky Blues claimed a 1-1 draw with Central Coast on Saturday that delivered a 2-1 semi-final win on aggregate.
But they will sweat on an ankle injury to goal scorer and midfield star Mackenzie Hawkesby ahead of the decider.
With Sydney leading their semi-final tie 1-0 after the opening leg in Gosford, Hawkesby extended the aggregate lead to 2-0 at the half-hour mark of the second leg at Leichhardt Oval.
Central Coast forward Rola Badawiya struck in the 43rd minute to revive the tie, but the Mariners were unable to deliver the comeback required to deny Sydney.
"It's not really about the seventh (decider) - I'm just happy about now," Juric said.
"They thoroughly deserve it, considering the tough year we've had.
"So I'm just super-proud of this first one (grand final) for a lot of these girls."
Hawkesby was substituted, after limping for several minutes, in injury time.
"She rolled her ankle and she kept limping. So I hope it's not major," Juric said.
"I'm hoping it's nothing - even a week or two-week thing - (because that) makes it awkward for next week because we need her fit.
"But I'm sure she will want to play so let's see, but I hope it's nothing major.
"But yeah, we took her off because she couldn't run."
Sydney will face either Melbourne City or Newcastle in the grand final.
City host Newcastle at AAMI Park on Sunday, holding a 3-0 lead after the first leg.
The grand final will be held in Melbourne if City win, because they won the premiership.
Sydney took the lead when Indiana Dos Santos caused some chaos in the box, with Cortnee Vine getting a toe-in, before Hawkesby pounced to open the scoring.
The Mariners hit back when Wurigumula had a pass blocked but recovered to find Bianca Galic, who slipped through Badawiya.
The former Sky Blues striker took a touch and rifled past Jada Whyman to cut the deficit to a goal.
Central Coast had some chances to level the tie after the interval but couldn't take them.
It ends the Mariners' fairytale season on their return to the ALW.
"I'm so proud of the girls in the way that they fought and battled and dominated the game and we did dominate the game, both legs, really, in a lot of senses," Mariners coach Emily Husband said.
"But ultimately football comes down not to domination of the pitch but ability to put the ball in the back of the net, so we didn't do that.
"The attention straight away goes to next year and preparation and making sure that we come back bigger and stronger.
"We've proven a lot of people wrong this year but we know that the second year will be even harder because the expectation is there so we've got to make sure that we get it right."