Melbourne City W-League Head Coach Patrick Kisnorbo praised the fighting spirit of his side following Sunday’s impressive 5-2 win over Newcastle Jets at AAMI Park.
City took a deserved lead after just five minutes when Kyah Simon rifled home a powerful effort into the bottom corner, before the reigning Champions received a shock to the system when Katie Stengel capitalised on two defensive errors to put the visitors ahead.
Larissa Crummer pulled a goal back on the stroke of half-time to level the scores, before adding a second in-between a world-class brace from Jess Fishlock as City overran the previously unbeaten Jets in an impressive attacking display.
“It was a tale of two halves,” Kisnorbo summarised.
“ We scored early but then we had a couple of lapses in concentration, and it costs you, at this level it does.”
“It was great fighting spirit from the team to work themselves back into the game, and obviously the second half was a completely different performance to what the first half was, which I’m very happy about.”
“The goals are great, but I think the work ethic and attitude displayed by the girls today was phenomenal.
The Jets two goals were both marked by uncharacteristic mistakes from Matildas Lydia Williams and Alanna Kennedy, but Kisnorbo was quick to defend the pair.
“I think in life we all make mistakes. You make mistakes, I make mistakes, we all make mistakes. That’s just football.”
“I’m not going to have a go at them at all because they’re fantastic players. Again, we all make mistakes that’s just unfortunately happened today. They’re fantastic players so I’m not going to sit here and say they did anything wrong because for me they didn’t.”
“Instead of looking at that we should be looking at the way we responded. I can’t fault the attitude and application shown by the players – the 11 who started plus those on the bench who came on and made an impact.”
“We’re a tight group and if someone makes a mistake there’s always someone else to help.”
Crummer’s two goals marked her first goals of the season for City, and Kisnorbo praised the 21-year-old for the way she has bounced back from the injury troubles that have plagued her over the past few months.
“Larissa has had a bit of a tough time. I spoke to her regularly while she was over in the US (with Seattle Reign) and she was raring to come back here and prove that she was fit.
“I’ve got faith in her and hard work pays off. All the time in the gym and frustration has led to goals today. She was fantastic today and I was really happy with her performance.”
The boss also praised teenage pair Sofia Sakalis and Lia Muldeary, both 15, who were both rewarded for their hard work in training with their senior W-League debuts in the dying minutes against the Jets.
“You’ve got two young girls who, a couple of months ago, were training at Darebin in Northcote. Now they’re representing Melbourne City at AAMI Park in their first W-League match.”
“They’ve been fantastic the whole pre-season and they deserve a chance. They got it today and I’m delighted for them.”
City’s Women will aim to make it three consecutive wins next Saturday when Kisnorbo’s side travel to the Harbour City to take on Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium, kick-off 5.00pm.
