Canberra United stars Michelle Heyman and Chengshu Wu shine in A-League Women's win over Newcastle Jets

Canberra United import Chengshu Wu would have sent a shock through coach Njegosh Popovich's system when she hit the deck midway through the opening half of her first game since November after returning from facial fractures.

A ball reared up and clipped Wu in the face during a dominant 5-1 win over the Newcastle Jets that saw club greats Michelle Heyman and Ellie Brush hit the score sheet at McKellar Park on Saturday afternoon.

While the ball made its way into the back of the net, Wu - who had ditched a face mask in sweltering summer conditions before putting it on in the second half - hit the deck and had Canberra teammates rushing to her aid.

But Wu gave Popovich the thumbs up and Wu eventually cracked a smile as Canberra continued an unbeaten start to the calendar year.

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"It did [give me a fright], but you know what? It's a goal," Popovich grinned.

"For the 60 minutes or so she was on the field, you could just tell the level she is and the confidence she has when she has the ball. Her ability to unlock defences and just be in the right place at the right time shows she's an international.

"We'll be seeing the better of her in the coming weeks."

The story for so much of Canberra's season has been their ability to create chances but an inability to finish. Coming into the weekend, they'd averaged 19 shots on goal per game - more than any other team in the league. But they had only found the net enough to be ranked seventh across the competition.

Fans hoped that trend would change when United returned home against a side which has struggled to settle on its best goalkeeper throughout the season.

This time it was Georgina Worth in the hot seat for Newcastle, tasked with shutting down the league's all-time leading scorer in Heyman.

If they were boxing, Heyman won by knockout. The Canberra captain scored twice - even if the biggest cheer was reserved for Brush's first goal since returning to the club, one celebrated by a the star defender pretending to nurse a baby.

Vesna Milivojevic closed the show with a stoppage time goal as Canberra edged closer to the top four, now two points adrift of the Melbourne Victory, who have a game in hand.

"We're very happy. That's two consecutive wins, which hasn't happened for Canberra for a long time, it's 24 games, so very positive signs," Popovich said.

"The ladies rose the bar against Melbourne Victory and were unfortunate not to get the result in that game, but we keep on improving and we're going to Wellington next week with a lot of confidence. It's a tough trip to go over to Wellington, over the ditch, we're feeling confident but by the same token we always respect the opposition."

AT A GLANCE

A-League Women: CANBERRA UNITED 5 (Michelle Heyman 16' 52', Chengshu Wu 27', Ellie Brush 78', Vesna Milivojevic 90+3') bt NEWCASTLE JETS 1 (Tara Andrews 80') at McKellar Park.

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