Melbourne City Women’s Head Coach Michael Matricciani has praised his team’s mentality, after coming from behind on two occasions to earn a share of the points in their season opener against Sydney FC on Saturday afternoon.
Reflecting on the 2-2 draw post-game, Matricciani was overall pleased with City’s Round 1 performance.
“I think performance wise over the 90 minutes, I thought we were very good,” he said. “I think we created a number of chances, we dominated the ball, we played the City way and we imposed that which I was very happy with.”
“I think we struggled in moments to break down that deep block, and maybe a couple of ideas that we worked on, we probably didn’t utilise as best as we could.”
Aideen Keane netted City’s equaliser on debut, after finishing off a classy team goal involving a combination with Holly McNamara and an intelligent dummy from Shelby McMahon.
It’s an attacking combination that reflects City’s pre-season work, according to Matricciani.
“Obviously the second goal was a testament to the work that we’ve been doing in the little combinations to try and break through deep blocks,” he said. “I think we got a lot of joy with that, and we showed great spirit like we had all last season.”
“So overall pleased, a little bit sloppy in some moments, but I’m quite pleased.”
City’s attention now turns to their home opener against Central Coast Mariners this Saturday, before departing for Vietnam where they will take on the AFC Women’s Champions League Group Stage.
“We play Central Coast on Saturday, so I’m really interested to watch them against Adelaide, and then we fly the next day basically to Vietnam,” he said. “In the background we’ve prepared for those three matches in the Group Stage, but will recover, analyse Central, see what they do and then put the game plan together to try and beat them next Saturday.”
