Jenkins says title underdogs Victory will never give up the fight

Darian Jenkins insists Melbourne Victory have a ‘chip on our shoulder’ as they fight to keep their hopes of Westfield W-League silverware alive.

The American celebrated her 25th birthday by scoring what turned out to be the decisive second goal in the 2-1 win against Newcastle Jets on Sunday, after captain Natasha Dowie had headed the home side into an early lead.

Gema Simon hit back against her former club but Jeff Hopkins’ in-form side held out to make it seven points from three Westfield W-League games.

The 2018/19 Premiers made a slow start to their Premiers Plate defence, collecting four points from the opening four games, and they remain eight points behind cross-town rivals Melbourne City.

But the triumph at AAMI Park on Sunday lifted them into fourth place, a point ahead of Brisbane Roar and Canberra United in the chase for a Finals Series berth.

“We kind of have a chip on our shoulder and it’s great to come out and get that result and show that we have that fight and that underdog in us, so we’re going to keep on going up,” Jenkins said post-match.

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“That was a really fun game for us,” said Jenkins.

“All of the momentum we’ve build up in the last few games resulted in this game.

“Working on the crossing and finishing this week, it was a great result for us.”

Head coach Hopkins held special praise for Victory’s flying wingers who stretched the play on the extra wide AAMI Park field.

The home side started with three centre backs and Lia Privitelli and Jenkins operating as wing-backs, a system which worked a treat as the pair combined to put in 19 crosses.

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“I think we’ve been working on just improving things week to week and a lot of things we did [on Sunday] were better than last week which is good,” Hopkins told melbournevictory.com.au

“I thought we used our width really well, made use of Lia [Privitelli] in the first half and Darian, but also as a group there’s a few things we think we need to tidy up as well.

“Encouraging performance, obviously we got the three points and we’re up in the top four now, but still a work in progress.”