Hopkins sets sights on next three games to kick-start Victory’s season

Melbourne Victory head coach Jeff Hopkins is targeting the next three games to launch his side’s charge towards the Westfield W-League Finals Series.

Following the 0-0 draw against an in-form Brisbane Roar on Saturday morning, Hopkins revealed his delight about collecting four points against the Queenslanders already this season.

Jake Goodship’s side had the better of the chances at at Epping Stadium but Victory delivered a strong defensive performance in hot, blustery conditions to clinch a share of the spoils.

The 2018/19 Premiers have collected five points from five Westfield W-League matches this season, and sit two points outside of the top four.

Victory travel to Perth Glory in Round 7, before being in the new year with a home match against Newcastle Jets and a trip to Adelaide United after their bye.

Hopkins expects Roar to be close contenders for a place in the Finals Series so he believes collecting points in the next three matches will be crucial.

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“I’m confident there were enough signs from enough players to say that the next three games we can turn what we did into goalscoring opportunities and goals and turn those goals into points as well,” Hopkins told melbournevictory.com.au

“I think Brisbane are a good side and they’ll be up there at the end of the season and we need to understand that we were up against a very good side.

“We’ve already won in Brisbane and four out of six points is a good haul from the two games against them so we’ve got a number of positives out of the game.

“Then [we will] take that to Perth with us because we’re coming into a run of three games that we’ve got to get points from.”

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Following the stalemate in Epping, Hopkins held special praise for his backline and former Roar goalkeeper Casey Dumont, who adapted well as Hopkins tweaked his team’s formation to counter Roar’s threats.

“I think I must say the way that we defended at times, sometimes with a lot of desperation, last-ditch tackles, our goalkeeper and our back three, every credit to them,” Hopkins added.

“Changing the formation, we maybe got ourselves in a few positions we weren’t used to and the last-ditch tackles and desperation from a number of players was a highlight of our defending.”