Jodie Taylor: Week Nine

Hi all,

It’s been an eventful week and a half since I last blogged, we had a massive home fixture against Newcastle in Geelong last weekend, seeing us win 2-1.

We started the game really well, dominating play and creating a number of chances earlier in the game. Although we were dominating, Newcastle converted their only real chance of the game and we went down 1-0. About five minutes before half time Mini (Katrina Gorry) played a brilliant through-ball splitting their backline and I managed to get on the end of it and finish past Bubs.

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Second half Newcastle came firing back at us looking threatening in attack, however with Bri in goal and our solid back line we kept De Vanna off the score sheet for once! We managed to get another goal in the second half from an excellent kick from Bri; providing her with her first assist of the season!

It was a great win for us as realistically its between ourselves and Newcastle for the fourth playoff spot. Getting the three points from the game has kept our finals hopes alive.

It was a very different feel going into this past weekend’s match against Perth Glory; they suffered an 11-0 defeat to Sydney the weekend before as well as controversially releasing two of their key players during the week prior to our game.

Having previously played on the same team as these girls I was shocked to hear that they had been released; both are very professional and talented individuals and it was really disappointing to see them being portrayed in a negative light. This is definitely a reminder of how good it is to be in a supportive and professional environment that has been created at Melbourne Victory Women.

The buildup leading into this game was more about keeping our mental focus than anything else. Obviously we were all aware of the score line they suffered against Sydney and we knew this could be a chance to have another solid performance and secure points. We won 5-0 on the day, which I believe is the highest score Melbourne Victory Women have ever won by (see Jodie's hat-trick here)!

It’s crazy to think we only have a few games left as it feels like the season has just started! Coming into the end of the year it is crunch time now with two big home games coming up against Brisbane and Canberra.

We face Brisbane this Saturday at Geelong. Simonds Stadium seems to be a lucky field for us, hopefully we can continue our winning streak there this weekend!

We had some great support in Geelong last time out, and the noise the crowd made was something quite special – especially when we came from behind.

If you are in Victoria come down to the match because every fan does make a difference, and come down to have a chat after the game - it was fantastic meeting some of our fans a fortnight ago!

On that note, if you want to win free tickets to this weekend’s match there is a promo on the Melbourne Victory Womens Facebook page where whoever answers a simple question wins tickets. Here’s a clue: I’m one of the answers!

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