Vesna Milivojevic ignites Canberra United's A-League women's finals tilt against Western United

A Milivojevic screamer set up Canberra United's stunning 3-0 win over A-League women's ladder leaders Western United at City Vista Recreation Reserve on Saturday.

The 21-year-old needed just 39 seconds to score the opener and she eventually added another before Chengshu Wu found the back of the net to bring down a competition powerhouse and ignite Canberra's finals dream.

Some turnaround from their last date - a 5-0 drubbing in favour of Western United.

If coach Njegosh Popovich thought Friday was a beautiful day after the club won back three competition points, this must have been the closest thing to perfect.

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"When we got the news we got our three points back, that was such a big boost. Our finals hopes are alive, but that was nothing without winning today and the next game," Milivojevic said.

"These three points are massive. [It gives us] immense confidence. We know we are capable of that, we know we are the best team in this league and we just have to show it on the day."

Had you glanced at the odds on Friday morning, you would have seen Canberra as rank outsiders. A dollar on Popovich's side would have netted you more than $6 in return.

Then the landscape changed. Canberra had something more to play for. A top four mission had been revived.

The Australian Professional Leagues was forced to hand back Canberra's three competition points after a marathon two-hour hearing on Thursday night, overturning a decision to strip Popovich's troops of a win for fielding an ineligible substitute during a game last month - despite it being cleared by a fourth official at the time.

Check the odds before kick-off and Canberra were still something of a long shot, but they'd shortened to $4.20 - providing even more reason to dare to dream against the competition frontrunners.

So Canberra entered the contest in fifth position, two points shy of fourth-placed Melbourne Victory - themselves short-priced favourites to beat the Brisbane Roar on Sunday.

Forcing their way into the top four will still take some doing for Canberra. They will finish the regular season against third-placed Melbourne City on the road next week, while potentially also hoping the Wellington Phoenix can spring an upset on home turf against the Victory in the final round.

But right now, Canberra have a pulse. After a nightmare stretch that looked as though it would leave their finals hopes in tatters, Popovich could hardly ask for more.

Milivojevic's performance was the Serbian international's coming of age.

So much of the talk had centred on Michelle Heyman and Hannah Keane in the race to the golden boot. Canberra's Heyman, who broke the A-League women's competition's all-time games record, arrived with 12 goals to her name. Western United's Keane had registered 11 this season.

But it was Milivojevic who struck with the opening two goals - first from outside the box to give Canberra a lead in the opening minute, and again in the second half, before Wu put the result beyond doubt.

"It's my first brace in the A-League so I'm really happy I could do that for the team and put us in a really good position going into the finals," Milivojevic said.

"I took the very first touch and as soon as I hit the ball, I knew it was going in the back of the net. I'm really happy I could do that for the team.

"It's amazing, to beat first place is just phenomenal."

The door is ajar. A Victory slip-up on Sunday would kick it wide open.

AT A GLANCE

A-League Women's: CANBERRA UNITED 3 (Vesna Milivojevic 1' 65', Chengshu Wu 74') bt WESTERN UNITED 0 at City Vista Recreation Reserve.

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