With GF on the line, City looks to douse the fires against the Jets

Melbourne City did what they had to do to silence the Maitland crowd and beat Newcastle 3-0 in the first leg of their ALW semifinal. Now, they want to maintain that professionalism in the second leg.

At their best, Melbourne City bring something of a tide of inevitability to their A-League Women fixtures. Monopolising possession, dominating territory, and rebuffing their opponent's attempts to fashion any kind of rhythm, they envelop and overwhelm resistance before their collection of difference-makers strikes with lethal intent. It’s the approach that their coach Dario Vidošić wants to bring to the second leg of their semifinal against the Newcastle Jets at AAMI Park on Sunday; absorbing the furious energy the visitors will bring as they attempt to erase a 3-0 deficit from the first leg before grinding their dreams to dust. 

With 6836 fans behind them at Maitland Sportsground – the third-largest standalone A-League Women crowd in the league’s history – there was a lot of narrative force behind the Jets last week. They’d just won their first-ever final against Western United the week prior and now they were coming up against one of the most-powerful teams in the league’s history, who had just been crowned premiers. They fielded exciting difference-makers such as Sarina Bolden and Melina Ayres, players capable of scoring on anyone. They were riding the crest of a wave of Novocastrian excitement and affection. And perhaps most strikingly, they were playing for the fairytale narrative of going for a title when the ongoing saga surrounding ownership meant that the very future of the club remained under significant threat. 

But then just five minutes into the game City’s high press forced a turnover and, in acres of space, Rhianna Pollicina was able to tee up a shot from the top of the box. It rattled off the crossbar but Daniela Galic was there waiting to fire in the rebound. In particularly deflating fashion, City led early on. And the sense of destiny that perhaps had been surrounding the game was dulled. The Jets’ Lara Gooch would force Bárbara into a strong save in the 27th frame but that was the first attempt the hosts had sent in for 25 minutes. Then in the 61st minute, Laura Hughes set Emina Ekic up to make it 2-0. 77 minutes in the host’s defence then inexplicably stood off Shelby McMahon in the box, allowing the teenager to put the ball into the roof of the net to make it 3-0. 

City hadn’t been at their best by a long shot, ending the game with 1.3 expected goals (xG) compared to the host’s 1.1. But they’d been clinical, they’d taken their chances, and they’d put themselves in a commanding position heading into this weekend. 

“We were clinical,” said Vidošić. “We got our chances and we put them away. There were a few other times we were probably just one pass or just that final pass was maybe lacking inside the box, maybe making the wrong decision. But we created enough that we gave ourselves the opportunity to put away three goals. 

“We knew that there was talk of the crowd figures throughout the week, how many tickets sold, so we anticipated that. 

“You know they ride the momentum once there's attacking moments early on. It was excellent that we got that [early] goal. We went searching to try to score early to try and silence the crowd. We tried to take away some of that momentum. So that was very, very pleasing that we did find that early goal. 

“We probably didn't play our best with the ball and that's a credit to Newcastle. Their press was excellent. They were super aggressive. We anticipate the same [on Sunday]. We probably just didn't find the right moments of how we want to do our things.”

Now, of course, the desperation will ramp up another level for the Jets. It’s all or nothing at AAMI Park on Sunday. They must win and they must win big to force the game into extra time, let alone take out the victory inside the 90 minutes, and any goal that City can get going in the opposite direction makes that mountain they need to climb even higher. 

Inevitably, they'll fancy their chances. Only Melbourne Victory scored more goals throughout the regular season than they did. Coming into last weekend, they’d scored at least three goals in their last four games, something they’ve done ten times overall in 2023-24. Even accounting for their goose egg last week, no side in the competition has proven more adept at turning half-chances into balls in the back of the net – outperforming their xG by 9.3 throughout the campaign to this point. 

Of course, the flip side of this overperformance is that there’s always a chance of reversion to the mean. Not only has City beaten them in all three meetings this campaign, Vidošić’s side has now blanked them twice, the only side to do so on multiple occasions. And as his side have demonstrated once, the coach believes, as he did heading into last week, that his side’s game is well suited to taking the sting out of high-pressure, high-stakes moments such as these. 

“That's how we always want to play our football, we want to try to remain calm in that chaos and finals football is always chaotic,” he said. “Because of the tension, the nerves, all the emotions that go into it. The mistakes are magnified because they can sometimes be costly.

“But we've played our way the whole season. We'll continue to play our way. It's been successful this way. We alter it a little bit just depending on the opponent and we anticipate there'll be you know, a couple of changes. They were aggressive in the first game. They were high on the press. So we anticipate sort of much of the same in that aspect.

“We don't, we don't talk about a 3-0 lead. So we just play as if it's 0-0 and the game is starting again. And this will be a game on its own merits. So it's another game. And we're looking forward to coming home and hopefully qualifying for a grand final.”

Vidošić said his side had escaped the first leg mostly unscathed, with the notable exception of defender Karly Roestbakken, who limped off with an ankle injury in the first half.

A confirmed out for this weekend’s clash, the former World Cup Matilda is now in a race against time to be fit for a possible grand final. 

“It's hard to say, we have to just wait till next week to see how it progresses,” said the coach. “It might be difficult but there is a chance that she could be okay [for next week]. We won't know much until next week, to see how it presents. We'll see obviously how the weekend goes, we first need to finish off the job this weekend. And then we'll worry about next week after that.”