A-League Women kick-off between Canberra United and Sydney FC shifted away from the heat

United's clash with Sydney FC has been moved to 5pm on Saturday to avoid the searing summer heat, which is tipped to rise to 33 degrees Celsius during the afternoon.

Canberra's Hayley Taylor-Young welcomed plans to change the timeslot - with kick-off originally slated for 3pm - after she took days to recover from playing in 35-degree heat a fortnight ago.

A-League officials were torched by players across both women's and men's competitions for scheduling afternoon games during summer.

But the decision to shift a game back two hours gives United hope more fans will make their way through the gates to boost their finals charge.

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Most clubs would ban all talk of playing finals seven games out from the end of the regular season - but not Canberra.

Ask Taylor-Young if sixth-placed Canberra have spoken about the lure of the top four and she pulls no punches.

"Oh yeah, oh yeah," Taylor-Young said.

"We've got 21 more points if we win all our games and that's our main thing to work on."

Third-placed Sydney have scored 26 goals and given up just nine this season - both stand as the best records in the league.

Canberra have scored 18 goals - ranked fifth - but conceded 22, more than any other team bar the struggling Newcastle Jets.

"They have been together for so long, they know each other and know how they play. They're very quick and very skilful," Taylor-Young said.

"We just need to get on top of things, stay together, and keep communicating with each other.

"We've been quite positive since the last few weeks. Getting the three points on the weekend will be able to boost our confidence.

"It will be huge [if we can beat Sydney]. From now, we just need to keep going and try to get as many wins as we can. Against a team like that, it would be pretty special.

"Our fans mean so much to us and when they start cheering, it always boosts our confidence and gets us raving and ready to go to make that next tackle."

United officials have struck a deal with their Canberra Capitals counterparts in the hope of boosting crowds for both clubs.

Capitals members will be able to secure a free ticket to United's game at McKellar Park this week.

United members will then have a chance to snap up free tickets for a WNBL clash between the Capitals and Adelaide Lightning at the National Convention Centre on February 18.

"It's fantastic that we, as two female teams, can help each other get more fans out to our matches and really boost the crowds at both games," Canberra's Laura Hughes said.

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