Melbourne Victory are breathing down the necks of the top two sides in the Ninja A-League after goals from Emily Gielnik and Rachel Lowe fired them to a 2-0 win over Newcastle Jets.
Victory applied plenty of pressure in the opening stages of the contest at No.2 Sportsground and found the breakthrough in the 17th minute; Emily Gielnik rifled a shot past goalkeeper Tiahna Robertson at her near post to put the visitors on top.
Victory doubled their lead on the approach to half-time as Sara D’Appolonia found herself in acres of space down the left-hand side and picked out Rachel Lowe in the middle who made no mistake from close range, toeing the ball beyond the keeper.
The home side had several half chances in the second half but never really troubled Courtney Newbon in the Victory goal as Jeff Hopkins’ side cruised to victory.
Victory’s sixth of the season sent Jeff Hopkins’ side to within just one point of league-leaders Melbourne City.
As for Newcastle, the result marked their fifth loss of the campaign as they remained ninth on the ladder, four points outside the top six.
“For anyone that’s been paying attention, we’ve just had our third game in six days,” said Gielnik when speaking after the game.
“So it was the back end of what’s been a draw, a really tough loss against Brisbane and then a positive performance today.
“So scoring is always good but getting a good performance in was crucial and yeah, good to get back on the scoresheet for sure.
She later added: “What I think’s going to be good for us moving forward is just recovering after these big three games.
“But also, nothing feels better than coming off a win and a clean sheet.
“Like you saw tonight, I think you felt a little weight off our shoulders, a bit of pressure. I actually think we played better than the last couple of games.
“Hopefully that is, I don’t want to say a turning point, but just (us) starting to rebuild us finding our DNA and finding our purpose moving forward.
“We felt more fluent, we looked more free and we played a lot better than we have in the previous weeks. So we’re just looking to build on that, keep it simple and then come out really strong against Perth.”
Victory started strongly in Newcastle and it took them just 17 minutes to break the deadlock as Matildas forward Gielnik raced into the box and subsequently beat Robertson at her near post to score her seventh goal of the season and her first since Round 3.
Newcastle’s best chance of the opening half came in the 32nd minute when Lauren Allan broke the Victory offside trap but couldn’t beat Courtney Newbon as the keeper made herself big to deny the marauding winger from close range.
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The away side then punished their opponents in the lead-up to half-time as D’Appolonia sprinted clear down the left and, spotting the run of Lowe through the middle, found the forward with a simple pass and the Victory player did the rest to make it 2-0.
Desperately searching for a way back into the game Newcastle began to throw numbers forward in search of an equaliser but Allan couldn’t convert following a good ball into the box.
Newcastle did their best to put their opponents under pressure but in truth, Victory looked assured in the final stages of the game as they cruised to a 2-0 win to lock up second spot on the ladder.
