Melbourne Victory coach Jeff Hopkins says his team’s last-gasp draw against Sydney FC will give the players a vital boost heading into the A-League Women finals.
Victory came from 2-0 down to snatch a 2-2 draw against the ladder leaders on Wednesday, with American Catherine Zimmerman scoring the equaliser in the second minute of injury time.
The result saw Victory move into outright third spot, leaving them just two points adrift of second-placed Melbourne City ahead of Saturday’s clash with Perth Glory at AAMI Park.
Victory had won four straight games leading into Wednesday’s match, including a 5-0 trouncing of Western Sydney.
But the draw against Sydney is their most significant result of the season given it proves they can match it with the title favourites.
“The performance in the second half was great, just to see that we could take our intensity and play to another level,” Hopkins said.
“It’s given us a lot of confidence that come finals time, once we get there, that we can really give it a shake with any of the teams in the league.
“We’ve played well over the last four games, we’ve won games, we’ve kept clean sheets.
“But there’s a few people out there saying. ‘you’ve done it against the lower teams’. To come and do it against the top team (was important).”
Fifth-placed Glory are three points plus significant goal difference adrift of fourth-placed Adelaide, meaning they might need to win their final three games to have any chance of sneaking into the finals.
With so much up for stake for both Glory and Victory, Hopkins is expecting a tough contest.
“If we win the game, we’ll put a big gap between us and them. I’m sure there’ll be a fair bit of desperation from them,” he said.
“Depending on the way the game goes, the last 15, 20 minutes could be almost like a Cup tie/finals-type game, because there’s so much at stake for both teams.”
Victory midfielder Amy Jackson will miss the match with a calf injury.
