Four goals and a round-one W-League win has done little to satisfy Canberra United's appetite for title redemption, captain Nicole Begg declaring her team can't afford to slack off if it wants to win the championship.
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Canberra started its season with a thumping 4-1 win against the Western Sydney Wanderers at Campbelltown Stadium on Sunday.
But after finishing last season at the top of the ladder before being bundled out in the first week of the finals, Begg (nee Sykes) said Canberra needed to lift the tempo in every game.
"We blew out the cobwebs but we have to lift our intensity. We dropped off, we gave them a sniff, we were sloppy in some of our play," Begg said.
"We can't give other teams a sniff, especially with the tough run we've got coming up against Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne. We still put four goals in the net, but we have to tighten up and make sure we don't give away goals."
Star striker Michelle Heyman got Canberra off to the perfect start when Ashleigh Sykes set her up for a goal after just three minutes.
Heyman is using the W-League season to launch her World Cup ambitions and she impressed again when she stretched Canberra's lead to two before half-time.
The highest goal scorer in the competition's history has set a simple target this year: "I just want to score as many goals as I can," Heyman said.
"I was thinking I wanted to come out and get a goal in the first couple of minutes to build up some confidence and I was lucky enough that it happened."
Ellie Brush headed home Canberra's third goal after the break and Caitlin Munoz sealed the result in the 75th minute.
Heyman was denied a hat-trick in injury time when she was wrongly called offside and Wanderers debutant Debbie Koulizakis got one back for the home side when her shot ricocheted into the net.
Canberra goal-keeper Chantel Jones was impressive in her first match with the club, but coach Elisabeth Migchelsen said her team needed to improve if it wanted to beat Adelaide United on Sunday.
"We're happy with the three points, but we didn't play that well. Maybe we were a little bit anxious," Migchelsen said.
"The grass was very long and you could see they'd been playing rugby league on it. That was to our disadvantage, it was slow and the ball stuck. It was hard for the players; we've got three of the fastest players in the league up front and we want it to get up there quickly.
"We'll forget this game and switch on again this week, we didn't play the way we wanted to."
AT A GLANCE
W-League round one: CANBERRA UNITED 3 (Michelle Heyman 2, Ellie Brush, Caitlin Munoz) bt WESTERN SYDNEY WANDERERS 1 (Debbie Koulizakis) at Campbelltown Stadium on Sunday.
