Melbourne Victory tee up derby decider to make A-League Women grand final, beating Adelaide United

Melbourne Victory has defeated Adelaide United 2-1 in their A-League Women semi-final in a hard-fought, entertaining contest at Hindmarsh stadium.

Victory will now face cross-town rival Melbourne City for a place against Sydney FC in the grand final.

Captain Lia Privatelli was instrumental for the visitors, opening the scoring in the first half before providing an assist in the second, after Reds midfielder Nanako Sasaki scored an audacious free kick to equalise.

Visiting coach Jeff Hopkins was thrilled with the effort from his players, who fought hard to nullify the Reds attack.

«I'm really pleased with the performance, really proud as well because we had to really dig deep in that second half,» he said.

Reds coach Adrian Stenta conceded it was not his side's most polished performance.

«I didn't think we were at our best today and I think Victory came with a good plan that they put in place and they executed well,» he said.

Victory enjoyed the majority of possession and territory early but it was the Reds who had the first chance.

On 10 minutes, a Fiona Worts' cross from the left caused confusion in the Victory box between keeper Casey Dumont and her defenders.

Dylan Holmes stole in at the back post, on the blind side of her hesitant opponent, but the shot was kept out by Dumont.

The visitors had the next best chance on 18 minutes when Catherin Zimmerman collected a deflected pass and blasted towards goal, forcing Annalee Grove into an excellent reflex save with her legs.

Victory kept pressing and broke the deadlock in the 28th minute thanks to skipper Privatelli.

Catherine Zimmerman and Alex Chidiac exchanged passes before Zimmerman whipped in a cross to the back post, where Privatelli coolly side-footed home from close range.

The