Goalkeeper Lydia Williams admits Melbourne City must be more ruthless in front of goal in order to recapture its winning form in the Westfield W-League.
City slumped to its second consecutive 2-1 defeat against Western Sydney Wanderers at Popondetta Park on Sunday; only a week after seeing a record 18-match undefeated streak ended by Canberra United.
It is unfamiliar territory for Joe Montemurro’s side, who created a gluttony of goal-scoring opportunities against Western Sydney but were unable to find a way past an inspired Jada Whyman in the Wanderers goal.
Despite playing well enough to earn at least a point from the contest, Williams urged her teammates to be more merciless at the other end of the pitch.
“Obviously we’re disappointed to drop points, especially in games we have dominated possession wise,” Williams said.
“Everyone can see we play beautiful football, probably some of the best in the league. We just need to be a bit more ruthless in front of goal.
“I think sometimes we’re trying to keep possession a bit too much instead of taking chances. We all identified the problem and we’re looking forward to what the next part of the season holds.
“It’s kind of nice to have the pressure off of getting that first loss but no one wants to drop points.”
“I think all the teams, especially last year being on the opposite side, everyone wanted to beat City,” she said. “I think this season is no different.”
“After the fantastic season the Club had last year, it really motivated all the other teams to get the quality internationals, work on how they were going to approach each game against City.
“Now being on this side of it, you can see how much hunger they have when you play against them.”
City are currently engaged in a four-way battle for top spot on the W-League table, sitting only a point adrift of joint leaders Canberra and Perth Glory.
The West Australian outfit travel to AAMI Park on Tuesday in what will be another difficult test, with Williams relishing the opportunity to bounce back with a win in the Club’s second double header of the season.
“I think our approach to each game [is now different],” she said. “Sometimes we were just waiting for the result, where now I think the mentality now with the two losses is we really need to make it happen rather than wait for it to happen.
“It’s a great group of girls. We’re really close on and off the park and I think leading into these next games it’s going to show what kind of resilience we have and we really want to put our foot down and get back to where we were.”
“Playing [in a double header] before the men and having the opportunity to cross paths is very special to us. AAMI Park is a great stadium and hopefully getting a good crowd in will help grow the women’s game.”
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