Tara Andrews: Breaking the Victory duck

The Newcastle Jets defeated Melbourne Victory 1-0 in Round 1 of the W-League over the weekend. This is a historic win for Newcastle as we have never won against Melbourne in the seven years of W-League competition.

This is my sixth season playing with the Newcastle Jets and we have struggled to get out of the bottom ranks on the ladder, so I am sure you can imagine my excitement in achieving a victory over Melbourne.

Before the game and in the days leading up to the game, I was quite nervous, not just because it was going to be a competitive game of football, but because we only had one week of preseason training together as a complete squad and with our track record, who wouldn’t be nervous about the season ahead?

But I did have some quiet confidence about our team as we have recruited well over the off-season and with the addition of three Americans to the squad and both former and existing Matildas representatives, we seem to have great potential.

Game day was upon us and so many thoughts were given to what it would bring. The game started, we were in their half, we were in the eighteen-yard box and we had a shot. As soon as that had happened, the nerves had left and confidence in our team set in.

We had many chances and we finally broke deadlock in the beginning of the second half. We were winning, which is a very strange feeling for long-standing Jets player, and even better when we held them out for the entire game.

We won; it was so hard to believe that we actually won but quite a relief. It was in some ways a bittersweet victory as our captain and vice-captain from last season made the move to Melbourne to play this season.

So after only one game of the 2014/15 season, we have already tripled our points from last season. That gives a great feeling and eagerness to meet the challenge of the rest of the season. The challenge will continue with a hard-to-win game against Perth this weekend at home.


Tara Andrews is a long-time striker and current vice-captain for the Newcastle Jets, despite only being 20 years old, who recently spent time with the Colorado Pride and has represented Australia internationally with the Young Matildas. She holds the record for the most goals scored in a W-League match with four against Adelaide United. Keep up with Tara's weekly blogs throughout the 2014/15 Westfield W-League season here.