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Nov 21, 2019   |  10:40PM AET

Dowie, Dumont earn Hopkins praise

Dowie, Dumont earn Hopkins praise

Jeff Hopkins praised Natasha Dowie for a “captain’s performance” and lauded Casey Dumont for her display in Melbourne Victory’s win over Brisbane Roar.

Dowie scored a brace as Victory got past Roar 3-2 in the Westfield W-League on Thursday.

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The star forward doubled Victory’s lead after Kaitlyn Torpey’s own goal, only for Tameka Yallop to pull a goal back for Brisbane.

Yallop had the chance to equalise in the first half, but Dumont made a fine penalty save.

Dowie then produced a wonderful flying volley in the second half and Victory saw out its win despite a late Indiah-Paige Riley goal.

Hopkins was delighted with Dowie’s performance, saying: “I think Clare Polkinghorne was really very, very determined to stop Tash from playing and it was a great battle between the two of them.

“I was really proud of the way Tash reacted to the challenge, she never stopped putting her body on the line and she was very clever with the way she did things as well.

“It was just a great battle between the two of them, two very good, experienced players and you always felt that Tash would get something and just the way she kept going right until the end, it made me very proud of the way that she played and definitely a captain’s performance.

“She showed good experience, good quality but also good leadership. I can’t speak highly enough of her from the performance.”

As well as the penalty save from Yallop, Dumont made several stops to keep Brisbane out.

Hopkins praised the goalkeeper, who also saved a penalty in a draw against Sydney FC last season.

“She’s good mates with Tameka as well. She’s played with her a lot so maybe that little bit of local knowledge made all the difference,” he said.

“But a fantastic save, she got down to it, it wasn’t a bad penalty either, it was actually a really good save.

“And not just the penalty. When we were under pressure at the end and in different periods in the game, she really stood up, she dominated the balls in the air into the box which is a strength of hers, but also how she got down to a number of really well-struck strikes on goal and managed to not just save them, but to push them to the side of the goal as well, it’s a real credit to her.”

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