Emma Stanbury earns first start for Adelaide United in 2-1 win over Canberra United

The Canberra NPL player got her first call-up to the starting line-up for the Reds in their 2-1 win against Canberra United on Sunday night.

Adelaide lost 5-1 to reigning A-League Women's champions Melbourne Victory in their opening match last week, before bouncing back in round two to walk away with three points.

Stanbury came on in the second half and played 45 minutes against Victory, however, this week she got a full 90 minutes and then some.

"I'm so happy. I worked hard last week and Stents [Adrian Stenta] obviously rewarded me for the hard work I put in. I just wanted to make sure that I backed up my performance from last week ... and help get the girls the win and we got that," the midfielder said.

"To have a squad and a club that supports me the way they've been supporting me. I think it reflects on my performance in games. I'm just absolutely loving the environment here, it is just the most supportive group and the most family-feel squad I've ever been a part of. So I'm loving it here."

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The win against United came down to the dying minutes, with the home-side securing three points through Emily Condon's 91^st-minute strike.

It was in stark contrast at half-time in the sheds - with the scores locked 1-1 - to the side's experience in round one, where they were down 4-0 at half time.

Stanbury said it took resilience for the side to bounce back from that.

"To get that win after the result we had last week is a testament to the girls and their character because we knew coming into this it was going to be a massive challenge to be able to put that adversity from last week in the back of our heads and get rid of it," she said.

"And they all came out, stood up and I'm super proud of them.

"The work we put in this week and the belief that we had as a group to get that win just showed, it doesn't reflect on the squad that we are and we've got so much potential this season. I think that win shows we will be contenders and I'm pretty keen for the next game already."

The Reds are due to face Melbourne City in round three, who beat Canberra in round one 1-0 and lost to Victory 2-1 this week.

Adelaide head coach Adrian Stenta agreed with Stanbury and said his side showed resilience in their turnaround from last week.

"It probably still wasn't a complete performance but I'm just really pleased the girls found a way to win, especially bouncing back from what was a really tough result the week before," he said.

"It's important in games like this where it's tight and close but also when the weather is challenging to try and keep the ball as much as you possibly can, and I thought we were able to do that after perhaps being a little bit erratic with some of our possession early in the game.

"I thought it was a really resilient performance, and hopefully it should hold us in good stead moving forward."

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