Lowry injury caps horror weekend for Matildas hopefuls

Jasper Bruce and Joanna Guelas |

New Matilda Hana Lowry has been injured in Sydney FC’s 1-1 draw with Melbourne City.
New Matilda Hana Lowry has been injured in Sydney FC’s 1-1 draw with Melbourne City.

Hana Lowry’s knee injury has capped a horror weekend for would-be Matildas debutants, with the Sydney FC midfielder substituted out of the 1-1 draw against Melbourne City at Unite Round.

One day after Isabel Gomez and Natasha Prior went down, a collision with Taylor Otto left Lowry in agony during the second half of Sunday’s game at Jubilee Stadium.

Teammates attended the 21-year-old on-field, before a member of medical staff arrived.

Lowry was able to walk slowly from the field and was replaced by Shay Hollman in the 72nd minute. Sydney officials later said Lowry would undergo scans on her knee on Sunday night.

Gomez, Prior and Lowry were three of five players called up to the Matildas for the first time as part of Tom Sermanni’s 36-player squad for friendlies against Brazil and Taiwan.

But the trio will now race the clock to be fit.

The first of four matches in the international window will be played against Brazil in Brisbane on Thursday night, with the last scheduled for December 7.

Last year’s grand finalists both found early goals before playing out an arm-wrestle to conclude the second edition of Unite Round.

Sydney’s Mackenzie Hawkesby opened the scoring after only five minutes, striking from just outside the box following a one-two with Indiana dos Santos.

Celebrations were to be short-lived, though, as Lourdes Bosch equalised only five minutes later, hooking the ball around Sky Blues defender Tori Tumeth.

Sydney goalkeeper Brianna Edwards got a hand to the American’s shot but could not prevent it from sailing past the line.

City will need to wait until January 5 for their next chance to avenge last year’s grand final loss.

Earlier on Sunday, Perth were made to settle for a one-all draw with Canberra as United striker and Matildas veteran Michelle Heyman shook off an ankle complaint.

Perth walked away with one point after they failed to back up co-captain Isobel Dalton’s opening goal in the 41st minute against Canberra.

Tijan McKenna was primed to double Perth’s lead in the 66th minute but teammate Miku Sunaga accidentally blocked the shot.

The window remained slightly open for McKenna to try again when United keeper Sally James lost her footing, but her attempt went wide.

Canberra then pounced, with Mary Stanic-Floody equalising three minutes later to deny Perth the victory and put a damper on goalkeeper Casey Dumont’s debut.

Joining the club in the off-season from Central Coast, Dumont featured in her first Glory game after finishing her AFLW duties with Hawthorn.

Heyman sent a scare through the Canberra camp – and the Matildas – after going to ground following a seemingly innocuous accident in the 22nd minute.

The midfielder clutched her ankle immediately following a contest in front of Glory’s goal but was able to return to the game.

AAP