As ALW premiership race tightens, Victory roll up their sleeves for Westgate Derby
Jeff Hopkins knows Melbourne Victory's margin for error in the ALW premiership is razor thin. But with a Westgate Derby awaiting them on Saturday, he can't afford to look too far ahead.
The stakes surrounding Melbourne Victory’s clash with Western United are obvious for Jeff Hopkins’ side. They win and remain within striking distance of Melbourne City in the race for the A-League Women premiership but lose, and their deficit could stretch to ten points, a gap that, even with a game in hand, feels insurmountable. It’s pretty simple, really, so simple that it hasn’t come up in their preparations, with the focus instead on the inevitable battle that occurs whenever Victory faces off with their green and black rivals.
Victory secured a thumping 4-1 win over United in their first meeting of the season back in November, an important early marker in a campaign that currently sees them sitting second on the table, seven points back of Melbourne City – who face Canberra United on Saturday afternoon – with one game fewer played. Nine points clear of seventh-placed Canberra, a seventh-straight playoff berth would appear odds on for Victory, with their challenge centred on overhauling their City rivals as well as keeping third-placed Adelaide, currently just two points back in third, from overhauling their spot in second and the first-week finals bye that comes with it.
This process will start on Saturday evening in Tarneit, against a United side looking to secure their place in the playoff picture themselves. Kat Smith’s side is four points adrift of Adelaide entering the round and just two clear of sixth-place Central Coast, which did them a favour on Friday night with their loss to Western Sydney.
But while his side may have run out comfortable victors in the first meeting between the two this season, Hopkins is well aware that fixtures between Victory and United cannot be overlooked – November’s win was the first time since they entered the competition that United had suffered defeat against a Melbourne-based rival. Combined with the emotional impact of Saturday’s fixture serving as United attacker Khali Johnson’s farewell before she completes a move to the Calgary Wild, the mood will be fraught.
“We know and we understand what we'll get from a Western side,” said Hopkins. “They're a very proud side, a competitive side.
“I look back on all the games -- even the game that we beat them in, earlier on the season -- [they’re all] really tough, competitive games. That's how they play the game and that's what we're preparing for – we're preparing to have to roll our sleeves up to compete, to play with a real intensity.
“We're ready for a real tough game, and we're ready to give it as well. We're not just going to go out and take it. We're going to get on the front foot from the word go.”
And while scoreboard watching and permutation calculation will become increasingly in vogue as the season progresses, the Victory coach says that the major ramifications for his side’s premiership hopes associated with this game – which he admits are there – haven’t come up.
“That's not been mentioned, to be honest,” he said. “It's sitting there and we all understand what we've got to do. We've got to just keep winning.
We've talked about how we're going to do it, the process of how we're going to do it. But why we're doing it, that's kind of there, and everyone knows it.
“That's one of the things we haven't actually mentioned this week. Win the game, accumulate points. That's what we're after.”
Coming out of the international break, Hopkins reported a clean bill of health outside his long-term injured cohort, with Paige Zois getting closer to a return after resuming full training with the side this week. Newly minted Matilda Alana Murphy and Football Fern Claudia Bunge both arrived in Melbourne on Friday and would be assessed before the game, while Chloe Lincoln also flew back from the SheBelieves Cup to link up with United
.Coming off the bench against the United States, Murphy made her debut for Australia at the SheBelieves Cup and having spent much of her development under Hopkins' eye at Victory, it was a proud moment for the coach.
“The game was on while we were training and we did have someone on the sideline caught on,” laughed Hopkins. “When I was told that there were a lot of the players that kind of looked at me, 'your little girl's on' and took the piss a little bit. It was great to see.
“She came on, and she did really well. She showed a lot of maturity. She didn't get on the ball too much, but positionally, she was excellent. She was obviously given a job to do, and she went on and did it really well. So that was really good to see.”