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The former Moss Vale Football Club player, Western Sydney Wanderer and now Canberra United talent's brace within five minutes in the first half proved the difference at JJ Kelly Park.

The 26-year-old's first goal came in the 38^th minute. From a corner, a Manly defender headed the ball towards the edge of the box, where Middleton launched a low rocket into the inside of the right post.

Five minutes later, she had her second goal following some individual brilliance.

Middleton intercepted the ball near the halfway line and bolted down the right wing, before cutting inside to beat her opponent. She then opted to launch off her left boot from outside the box, curling the ball over the goalkeeper into the back of the net.

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After leading 2-0 at halftime, the Stingrays held on in the second stanza - despite a late goal from Manly's Meisha Westland - to muster their third victory of the 2022 NSW Women's National Premier League season.

"I think we were really strong and clinical in the first half. In the second half, we held on and it was an unfortunate goal to concede, but I think it was a really great performance," Middleton said.

"Both goals felt pretty good. The first one, I felt like I hit it so clean. The second one, I thought 'oh my gosh', I just didn't expect it to go in. But when it went in, I was so happy and it felt so good.

"Anthony has been really amazing this year, he kind of lets us do our thing and work with our own strengths. He's encouraging us to get forward, take shots and I'm really enjoying it this year."

After dropping their first two games, Illawarra have claimed three wins and two draws in their past seven matches to move up to ninth place. Two of those victories have come in the past three weeks, and Middleton says her side is gaining momentum despite the stop-start nature of this year's season.

"We haven't even had a ground to train on, so it's been pretty tough. We've had to travel to Cronulla once a week and then, sometimes if we're lucky, we get to train on a tennis court. But we're slowly getting our squad back together. We've had a few injuries and people out, so it's finally starting to all come together and we're really starting to work well together," Middleton said.

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