Melbourne City FC will this week play its first home match of the Westfield W-League season in what’s shaping up to be a massive Melbourne Derby!
The Derby has been moved from Frank Holohan Soccer Complex to CB Smith Reserve after the Dandenong City SC pitch saw considerable damage overnight.
One of the big factors that will decide the Derby is the performance of the two strikers up front.
For City, Rhali Dobson has played that role both games this season and likely will again on Sunday, while for the Victory Melina Ayres looks set to get the nod.
Looking back at last season, Dobson appeared in nine games while Ayres made 13 appearances.
There is an even bigger discrepancy in minutes played as Ayres started nine of her 13 games while Dobson only started once, hence why Ayres played over 600 more total minutes.
Dobson had the better success rate in terms of tackles, winning the ball off her opponent 60% of the time compared to Ayres who did it 50% of the time.
City’s attacker also passed the ball better as she finished the 2019/20 season with a completion rate of 72.6% while Ayres’ was 61.4%.
Despite playing far less minutes, Dobson had 13 successful dribbles compared to Ayres who had seven.
Ayres was able to find the back of the net three times from her seven shots on target, with Dobson not able to get her name on the scoresheet from five shots on target.
That being said she did manage one assist, something Ayres didn’t do but the Victory attacker did make 16 key passes so can count herself unlucky.
Both players were well behaved last season with neither being shown a yellow by the referee.
