Canberra United break scoring drought to give Heather Garriock a fairytale send-off

The ball had barely touched the back of the net before the veteran turned and pointed at her coach and longtime friend Heather Garriock.

This one is for you.

That was the resounding message from United's XI, who swarmed the outgoing coach to celebrate their 3-1 win over Adelaide United on Sunday.

They delivered on their promise to send Garriock off on a high, holding 63.3 per cent of possession and putting on an attacking display.

"The players I signed are the players that performed especially when it counted, for the fans, the club, themselves and for me in my last home game," Garriock said.

"I'm just so proud of these players, regardless if we had made finals, just the character they put out there.

"I thought the way we played the second half was outstanding.

"Pressure plays a big part in elite sport and there wasn't any pressure on us today. It was about enjoying ourselves and why we fell in love with the game."

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Canberra enjoyed the lion's share of the early chances as Elise Thorsnes gave Adelaide's defence headaches. Her rapid shuttle runs down the left and attacking prowess accumulated in four solid attempts on goal but it was young Laura Hughes who would draw first blood.

Adelaide blocked a swooping Nikola Orgill feed in the box, only for the ball to land at the midfielder's feet. Hughes struck the ball to the top left corner to score her maiden W-League goal.

"Some of the players really stepped up [on Sunday], especially Laura Hughes, the way she scored that first goal to start off the game was just outstanding," Garriock said.

"I'm so proud of her and the other girls for that matter."

It seemed as though Canberra would go into the break with the lead, but troubles with their central defence saw Isabel Hodgson score an equaliser on the buzzer.

Simple breaks and passes through the middle of Canberra's defence saw Adelaide players thread through the backline over the course of the match, but a few wayward shots left the visitors to rue what could have been.

It seemed as though Adelaide would strike back in the second half when Laura Johns beat Olivia Price and Taren King on a fast break before her shot was saved.

Adelaide's hopes of a second half lead began to wither when Khamis struck in the 68th minute. The former Matilda latched onto the ball from a Simone Charley pass, twisted left then turned right to sent it into goal.

Charley put the result beyond doubt with what Garriock described as "the best goal I've seen", as she headed the ball past keeper Sarah Wallacy from close range.

The players rushed towards Garriock to celebrate the decider in a team huddle, acknowledging the emotional end to her tenure at United.

"I haven't been emotional over the past couple of weeks, it's been more self-reflecting," Garriock said.

"I had a tear in my eye, especially after Leena's celebration and Simone's as well.

"That's emotional because you spend a lot of time with these players day in and day out. For these players to show their respect was a really nice moment."

United will look to finish their season on a high when they meet Brisbane Roar at Lions FC Stadium next week

"The story of our season has been the transition moments and how we love to get forward but we don't think about our rest defence," Garriock said.

"We'll work on that this week. It's great Brisbane are coming off a loss to Perth, and it's even better we're coming off a win."

AT A GLANCE

W-League round 12

CANBERRA UNITED 3 (Hughes 34' Khamis 68' Charley 79') bt ADELAIDE UNITED 1 (Hodgson 45')