Melbourne Victory Women Finish in Highest Ever Position
Melbourne Victory Women have completed their most successful Westfield W-League season to date having finished in third place following an exciting 3-3 draw with the Newcastle Jets at Wanderers Oval, Newcastle.
Melbourne took an early lead through Amy Jackson and were looking comfortable when Enza Barilla put them two goals to the good. The match took a turn for the worst though when a horror ninety seconds saw the Jets equalise with goals in the 41st and 42nd minutes.
Service looked to have returned when Barilla tucked away her fourth of the season from a goal mouth scramble but a controversial penalty converted by Matilda Emily Van Egmond ended any hope of the first women’s semi-final in Victoria in football history.
The draw means that Victory will travel to Perth next weekend to take on the second placed Glory in a knockout final with the winner to qualify for the Grand Final.
While the result may not have been ideal, Melbourne have only lost a single match since Round Two and will head into the finals series as the form team.
With Newcastle needing a point to avoid the wooden spoon, the home crowd was silenced early as a Jackson cross-cum-shot in the fourth minute found its way into the top corner via the underside of the crossbar.
The team gained further ascendency in the 33rd minute when Barilla controlled a bouncing ball at the top of the box before expertly side-volleying the ball into the bottom corner.
Following goals From Jasmin Courtenay and Van Egmond for Newcastle, Barilla again put her name on the scoresheet when she poked home a goal mouth scrap after a Petra Larsson corner.
The controversial moment of the match came in the 83rd minute when goalkeeper Bri Davey was forced to come out of her box to claim a ball, in the process fouling Jets player Kate Hensman. The home crowd couldn’t believe their luck when the referee awarded a spot-kick against the bemused Victory side.
Van Egmond stepped up and duly converted the penalty and in doing so consigned Melbourne to a Perth away trip next week.
Date and time for the W-League semi-final will be released by FFA in the coming days.
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