Victory sweep aside Perth, seek to build once more
Melbourne Victory have had an inconsistent start to the 25/26 ALW season thus far, but their comprehensive win over Perth carried the hallmarks of a performance that can provide a foundation.
Melbourne Victory boss Jeff Hopkins is adamant that his Melbourne Victory side will soon put things together and string together a lengthy series of good results, as they have in so many seasons past. In fact, he “won’t accept anything less than that.” And if that’s going to come to pass, Sunday afternoon’s 3-0 win over Perth Glory in Bundoora would be a nice little jumping off point.
In what were at times torrid conditions – kickoff was delayed by 15 minutes because of lightning – Victory were hardly troubled as they swept aside the West Australians, whose best real look at goal came less from their own manufacturing and instead when a Courtney Newbon error put it on a platter. Up the other end, the hosts would end the opening stanza with 65% of the ball and eleven shots on goal to their opponents’ three, as well as sitting comfortably ahead thanks to goals from Kennedy White, Sofia Sakalis, and Rhianna Pollicina. By the time the contest ended, that margin hadn’t increased but they had sent in a further ten shots, with their eleven efforts on target more than the nine total (just one on target) that the Glory had.
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Consistency has proven consistently absent for Victory across the opening month of the campaign: a loss to Brisbane on the opening day, followed by two wins and then a frustrating loss to Wellington last week. But Sunday did feel like it could serve as something of a platform, especially with four of their next five games to come in Melbourne. Even if they’re unlikely to have it quite so much their own way in future games.
Because importantly, the result and performance were rather complete, combining the offensive output that characterised their 4-1 win over Western Sydney with the defensive fortitude that was demonstrated in their 1-0 win over Central Coast. In an unfamiliar role, Laura Pickett filled in admirably for the absent Claudia Bunge, no doubt helped by having a player of Kayla Morrison’s leadership next to each other, and White and Pollicina continued their red-hot start to the season. With Taylor Ray marking her Victory debut as a second-half substitute and Nikki Flannery and Chelsea Blisset, per Hopkins, nearing returns, the side is getting increasingly healthy, too, as well as starting to put some miles into the legs with the season now properly underway.
“We talked a lot about culture this week,” said Hopkins. “And culture is never tested until something hits the fan. So we’ve been tested a little bit this week, and we come through.
“But we said just now in the huddle, this week doesn’t really matter. It’s all about next week now. It’s all about tomorrow: how we turn up tomorrow, how we turn up Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. We move on from there. It’s a good start for us. But how we react to the win this week [is key], that we don’t think we’re the greatest thing since sliced bread and take things for granted.
“We get down, we roll our sleeves up, and we work hard to win the game next week.
Quickly taking control of the game, Perth was still searching for their first shot when Victory converted with their sixth in the 21st minute, the visitors failing to clear their lines and Zoe McMeeken taking advantage by getting down the right and driving in a low cutback that White turned in for her fifth goal of the campaign.
It was two in the 36th when it was the turn of Holly Furphy to whip a ball in from the right: pinching the ball off Tijan McKenna and driving a ball in low and hard towards the six-yard box, with Sakalis crashing the net to bundle it over the line. Pollicina then added to the damage six minutes later when Sakalis, on the left this time, slid a pass across from her and she tried her luck from range, with fortune subsequently smiling on her as her attempt took a deflection and sailed beyond Alyssa Dall’Oste in the Glory goal.
The game may have played out very differently had the West Australians been able to pounce in the 23rd minute when Newbon spilled a cross-cum-shot to Rola Badawiya. The American, though, could only send her resulting attempt into the post, and while the ball would subsequently spill to Ella Lincoln with an open goal in front of her, the 21-year-old couldn’t convert. Albeit, the latter effort probably carries the disclaimer that the speed it came upon Lincoln and the position her body was in at the time, it was a harder shot than its 0.90 xG would suggest.
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Nonetheless, with a three-goal buffer to fall back on, Victory’s control of the game would continue unabated in the second stanza, the likes of Lowe, Furphy, and White all forcing Dall’Oste into saves as they peppered the Glory goal. Indeed, if one were to pick the eyes out of this win, it would be that with 21 shots throughout the game, the margin probably should have been by a much greater margin.
But in the end, the win was secured. Last year, a 1-0 win over the Glory at the Home of the Matildas was the second game in what ultimately became a run of 15 games without defeat – 13 of those games wins – a stretch that only ended in the grand final. The hope for those in navy blue is that this win serves as a similar omen.