After completing regular season perfection, Melbourne City W-League Head Coach Joe Montemurro says the 2-1 win over Sydney FC couldn’t have come at a better time for his side as they prepare for this week’s Semi Final.
City were pushed the whole way by the Sky Blues – finding the winner in the 85th minute – but with a raft of stars rested for this week, the Head Coach felt the result showed his side’s true depth.
“To be honest it was great to have that sort of competition heading into the finals,” Montemurro said.
“We work week in, week out to break teams down and Sydney are a very good side. That’s why they’re in finals, they got behind us a couple of times which was good. It’s lessons for us to take into the finals.”
“We just had to tinker with a few things. We obviously had to make a few changes this week to give game time so everyone was firing and ready for the finals and it was great to give the young girls an opportunity to play 90 minutes against good opposition.
“It was important to get the result from a Club perspective but also for momentum heading to the finals. It was great to have the challenge that we needed to go back to the drawing board and prepare for next week.”
City had Bri Davey to thank for keeping her side in the match during early stages with an important stop to deny Kyah Simon and Montemurro had nothing but praise for his ‘keeper, saying it definitely played a role in the outcome of the match.
“Bri made a crucial save in the first half,” he said.
“I said to her if they had scored that one, it would have probably changed the way the game went but the reality is Brianna is probably one of the best goalkeepers in the land and it’s great to have her back to what she does best.”
City will now begin preparations for this week’s Westfield W-League Semi Final where they will face Brisbane Roar at AAMI Park, kick off 4:30pm. Don’t forget that with every adult ticket, 3 Match Pack and Melbourne City membership, you can redeem two FREE kids tickets (4-14 years).
