With three A-League Women’s wins on the trot heading towards the finals, Melbourne Victory coach Jeff Hopkins is beginning to see similarities to last season’s barnstorming run to the championship.
Victory host Western Sydney on Saturday night at AAMI Park as they look to take another stride to defending their title.
Last season, Victory stuttered with one win in their first four matches, including a horror 6-0 loss to Brisbane, before a six-game unbeaten run ensured they made the playoffs.
The picture is looking similar this season.
Hopkins’ side lost early season matches to Melbourne City and Brisbane again, and are beginning to catch up.
“In most seasons, you can maybe look back to one game or a couple of games that shape your season. Last year it was the 6-0 loss up in Brisbane,” he said.
“(This year it was) the game at home to Brisbane (which) followed another heavy defeat.
“It was really important that we focused on a few things, especially around the way we were defending.
“We’ve done that and the players have responded really well. So I think our season’s now starting to take shape, starting to build up a bit of momentum again and hopefully we can keep that going.”
The Wanderers are the next hurdle in Victory’s road and Hopkins can count on almost a full complement of players, including Kyra Cooney-Cross in her 50th A-League game, and Lia Privitelli after a virus.
“The trouble with Lia is you ask her to run through a brick wall for you, she would … so we have to be a bit careful. She’s nodding her head saying she’s great but we’ve got to make sure she’s actually right,” he said.
The last piece of the puzzle for Victory’s finals push might be their leading goalscorer from last season, Melina Ayres, who is yet to play this year because of a hamstring injury.
Hopkins said Ayres was back in training and would resume full training next week before a likely return in the remaining four matches before finals.
“We’ll get her back as quickly as we possibly can without putting her at risk of re-injury,” he said.
