There were no hints of bittersweet emotions from Alex Gummer on her return to her home state as Adelaide United dispatched Melbourne Victory 4-0 at Epping Stadium on Sunday.
Gummer, a Victorian who spent most of her state career with Casey Comets, made her W-League debut with Adelaide United before being signed by Melbourne Victory last season and not making a single appearance.
She returned to Adelaide this season and showed her former side what they were missing out on with a commanding performance at left-back.
In the process she helped her side create history, winning for the first time in Victoria and by its biggest ever margin.
“It’s a pretty great feeling to be honest, we put on a great team performance,” Gummer said.
“To get over the line with a 4-0 victory, it’s the biggest win we’ve had ever in our history so it’s a pretty amazing feeling.”
In an attacking fullback role, Gummer linked well with her forwards, including Rosie Sutton, who ended the contest with a hat-trick.
The 23-year-old commended the style of play and team morale under coach Jamie Harnwell, who led Perth Glory to a maiden W-League premiership last season and is on track to turn Adelaide from similar competition strugglers to first-time finalists.
“The team has been gelling amazingly, the first game we started off a bit slow but as the season’s been coming along we had that vibe and started to gel a bit more,” she said.
“We’re getting our combination plays working, we’re just trying to work on building up from the back right through to the forward line and it finally started to pay off with a few goals today.
“The style that Jamie is getting us to play, we’re trying to get the fullbacks to push high as possible to create that overlap and now it’s been paying dividends.”
Gummer will be back in Melbourne next week to face the side’s biggest test yet against Melbourne City, who flexed their muscle once more with a 4-2 win over champions over Canberra United despite losing Lisa De Vanna to a red card in the second half.
While she may not have the Matildas captain to contend with, she’ll still be up against the likes of Larissa Crummer, Marianna Tabain and Scottish international Kim Little, who all scored on the weekend,
“I wouldn’t say that I’m displeased [that De Vanna is suspended],” Gummer joked
“[However] they’ve got a great squad of depth so you can’t really just say one player [out] is going to change things for them.
“I’m not sure how Jamie wants to prepare us for that game because we really don’t want to change too much, but in saying that we’ve got to be wary of their offensive threats as well.”