With a draw and a defeat to Brisbane Roar in the weekend’s action for our Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League sides respectively, both sides will now turn their attention to the New Year.
A trip to AAMI Park awaits, with a massive day of football against Melbourne Victory on Sunday set to be crucial to the hopes of both our men and women for the 2019/20 season.
For our lads, Victoria has been a happy hunting ground in recent times. Our last three visits have ended in success: a 1-0 win over Western United in Round 6, the come-from-behind 3-2 win over Melbourne Victory in the FFA Cup Round of 32, and a 2-0 defeat of the Victory in the league last March.
It was a case of being oh-so-close on Saturday at home, with Dimi Petratos’ first-half strike ruled out by a late, late Brad Imman goal to allow Brisbane to pinch a point.
The Hyundai A-League ladder is still very tight – three points on Sunday could see the Jets jump to within a win of the top six.
From a Westfield W-League perspective, Victoria isn’t such a happy hunting ground with defeats in our last two visits to the southern state but AAMI Park did yield a win on our last visit: a 3-1 win in December 2017.
Despite opening the scoring through Tara Andrews in Brisbane on Sunday just gone, a star-studded Roar finished stronger with goals either side of halftime to take all three points.
If Newcastle are to make an approach on the finals, then this shapes as a crunch game. The gap between Newcastle in seventh, and Brisbane in fourth, is currently at six points.
Match details
Westfield W-League Round 8
Melbourne Victory v Newcastle Jets, Sunday 5 January at 4pm, AAMI Park
Hyundai A-League Round 13
Melbourne Victory v Newcastle Jets, Sunday 5 January at 6.30pm, AAMI Park
