A goal from American signing Brooke Hendrix in her first start has given an otherwise wasteful Melbourne Victory a valuable 1-0 away win over Newcastle in the Liberty A-League.
REACTION: Victory performance ‘isn’t good enough’ to match it with ALW’s best
Hendrix’s firm 55th-minute header from a free-kick went in off a post and was long overdue for Victory at McDonald Jones Stadium on Tuesday, the goal securing fourth spot on the ladder for the visitors.
A third straight win and clean sheet lifted Melbourne level on points with third-placed Adelaide, who have a slightly better goal difference but have played one game more.
The loss almost certainly ended Newcastle’s finals hopes, leaving them nine points behind fourth-placed Victory.
Victory had 19 shots on goal in a dominant first half display, but somehow the Jets got to the break on level terms.
It was a much more competitive second half with Newcastle threatening more and Victory unable to build a bigger lead after the goal.
Hendrix, a well travelled defender who has played in America, England, Italy, Switzerland and Iceland, joined Victory last week and came off the bench for a cameo appearance in their last game.
“I feel like I’m still knocking a little bit of rust off,” Hendrix told Paramount Plus.
In the first half Victory’s lively Alex Chidiac hit the post and Jets’ goalkeeper Claire Coelho did well to palm away a close range volley from Catherine Zimmerman before using her legs to stop a point-blank Maja Markovski effort.
The Jets didn’t have a decent strike on goal until the 35th minute when Sophie Harding’s shot was pushed away by Victory goalkeeper Casey Dumont.
After conceding the Jets ironically came into the game more, but struggled to hit the target.
“I couldn’t fault the girls in terms of their effort and their mentality and their character,” Jets coach Ash Wilson said.
“We had a pretty challenging week, we had a couple of girls go into isolation due to COVID-related issues, we had about four girls yesterday with a gastro type bug, or a vomiting bug and we’re still seeing some players struggling with the effects of COVID.”
“There were some really pleasing patches for us and I think we took it to them particularly in the second half, but they are a quality side.”
Victory also had more opportunities after scoring and Coelho produced good saves to deny Chidiac and Alana Murphy.
“Its always good to win away from home and to keep a clean sheet was excellent, although we made quite hard work of it,” Victory coach Jeff Hopkins said.
“I was just a little bit disappointed that we couldn’t have put the game away and made it a little bit safer a little bit earlier.”
