After Melbourne Victory’s 1-1 draw against Sydney FC, head coach Dave Edmondson was satisfied with a point on the road against the defending champions.
It was a much improved performance from the 1-5 thrashing sustained at Lakeside Stadium in Round 1, and it was enough to satisfy Edmondson.
“When you’re one nil down you’re happy to come away with a point,” Edmondson said.
“But if you look at the bigger picture we’re probably disappointed to have dropped two.
“We were confident coming here today that we could get the three points and as I said when it’s one nil down and there’s not long to go there is a little part of you that is happy to come away with a point.
“It’s overturned the result from the first game of the season, it’s given the girls some confidence that we are actually where we think we are, and we can compete against the best in the league.
“We’ve got pretty lofty aspirations and we want to be winning every game so probably the overriding feeling is a little big of disappointment not to be taking the full three.”
Emma Kete’s goal was a tough one to take for Edmondson, as it had come from a direct counter attack.
It was a ploy from Sydney which he had prepared the team for, but they were undone by a bit of brilliance from Sydney forward Caitlin Foord.
“The goal we conceded is a little bit disappointing because it’s a threat that we were aware of,” he said.
“Their quick counter attack, long ball over the top from our set piece – it was our attacking corner that we conceded from.”
Jess Fishlock may have had a role to play in that goal, but she made up for it with a clinical equaliser in the 80th minute.
Fishlock was one of the best performers on the pitch, and was instrumental to setting up so many of Victory’s forays into the final third.
While praising Fishlock’s performance, Edmondson was quick to point out that she is merely a piece of the puzzle that makes up the team structure.
“Jess is a class player as are a number of others,” he said.
“It’s easy to single out one or two people but the way we play it’s very much a model that we’ve got for the whole team and if one person do their job then it falls down.
“Yes Jess is important and she’s got a big role to play but if someone else drops their game then it doesn’t matter how good Jess is, that part of the jigsaw is missing and we’ll struggle.
“99.9% of the time today all eleven did their job and what was asked of them and expected of them.
“That extra 0.1% that we don’t concede, we put away a couple of those chances at the other end and it’s a very different scoreline.”