A Matildas endorsement for Melbourne City's star playmaker

Melbourne City head coach Dario Vidosic said Rhianna Pollicina wouldn’t be out of place in the Matildas after she steered the club to a 1-0 win over Adelaide United in the Liberty A-League.

Pollicina’s beautiful strike in the 54th minute proved the difference at AAMI Park, where City firmly stayed in the Liberty A-League Premiership race on Sunday.

The attacking midfielder cut around Nanako Sasaki and cooly curled her fifth goal of the season around Annalee Grove, sending City four games unbeaten while extending Adelaide’s winless run to six.

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“She’s one that probably deserves it (a Matildas call-up) and there’s a few others that have been putting their hand up and have been playing quite well,” Vidosic told reporters.

“But that’s all they can do, is just go out and perform and give the selectors as big of a headache as possible and then at the end of the day, they have that final decision.

“But I’m sure if she went there she would fit right in and she’s a quality player.

“That’s something that I worked with her a lot on last year is just showing her that – ‘just get in the box, get in the box, that’s where the goals are scored’. And she got her success last year, and then she just carried it on this year.

“A great performance tonight and she’s one of the leaders in the team so she stood up when we needed it, scored a great goal.”

City are second on 25 points behind Western United (27) and ahead of reigning premiers Sydney FC (21, but with two games in hand).

Fifth-placed Adelaide (13) remain five points behind fourth-placed Melbourne Victory.

Sunday night’s match was delayed by 45 minutes due to stoppages in the preceding men’s game caused by a serious leg injury to Adelaide United midfielder Juande.

It took time for both teams to find their way into the game, with the best chance of the first half coming when City’s Julia Grosso hit the bar in the 19th minute.

But nine minutes into the second half, City found their breakthrough.

“Defensively we were quite compact and made it difficult for Melbourne City,” Adelaide coach Adrian Stenta told reporters.

“They probably had a lot of shots but I’m not sure how many of them were that threatening.

“When we’re having a season like we’re having and we’re finding it difficult to score goals, once you go behind, it just makes that all the more challenging.”

City were without veteran keeper Melissa Barbieri, who is sidelined for eight weeks with a calf injury.