Melbourne City are hoping Matildas young gun Holly McNamara will return and provide attacking spark they’ve been missing in their Liberty A-League clash with Western Sydney Wanderers.
The brilliant young attacker earned her maiden call-up and Matildas debut at the Women’s Asian Cup, making three appearances before a knee injury scare.
But with scans clearing McNamara of any damage, head coach Rado Vidosic hopes the youngster will feature and provide the direct runs City were sorely lacking in their three games without her.
“We still haven’t decided if she starts and how much she will play. It all depends how she feels on the day. We’ll leave that up to her,” Vidosic said.
“The last few weeks, we just didn’t have that penetration that we had when Holly’s playing because she’s so direct.
“To be honest when we lost her, we tried with (Rebekah Stott) in that position and although Stotty has got different qualities, it wasn’t the quality to run constantly behind opponents’ backline.
“So this is one thing that we are hoping that Holly will bring back to our squad.
“If we can utilise that, then we will probably look much more dangerous, we would probably create more opportunities. Then our pressing will be more effective, then everything becomes more effective.”
Vidosic delighted in the experience McNamara gained on international duty and expected her to kick on.
“It’s a great opportunity for young players and when Holly came back this morning, (it’s like) she’s 3-4 centimetres taller, she is faster, she is stronger. That’s how much it means,” Vidosic said.
“For them to be part of that was amazing, specially for someone who’s like 18 years old. It just opens so many doors and they can now start thinking about going overseas and not just going to any club, they can start selecting the club.
“It’s just amazing what five or six games at this level can do for for people and for their confidence and for their future.”
Second-placed City will go into Sunday’s clash at AAMI Park wary of the Wanderers, who have scored just two goals in eight games, proving a banana skin.
“For me, personally, to be honest, these can sometimes actually end up being the hardest games to mentally prepare for because the reality is that they do have quality,” City captain Emma Checker said.
“I just don’t think they’ve really found their full potential yet and at some point they will find that. So we have to be prepared that it could be against us.”
