Melbourne Victory head coach Jeff Hopkins praised his team’s execution in a 4-0 win over Adelaide United on Saturday.
A brace from Natasha Dowie, who became the club’s all-time leading goalscorer outright, and goals from Jeon Ga-eul and Lia Privitelli saw Victory to a deserved win at Lakeside Stadium.
Hopkins praised his side for its performance in the Round 7 Westfield W-League clash, during which Victory celebrated its 10th anniversary.
“We talked about it all week, being a little bit more clinical,” he said.
“Also, we talked about different areas we could be effective and I’ve got to give the players credit, the two or three areas that we targeted were really done very well.
“We were clinical in those areas, in both the wide areas, looking at getting the ball wide, working balls into the box and definitely on our set-play delivery so I’m very happy with the way things went.”
The win lifted Victory into seventh on the table, two points behind fourth-placed Sydney FC.
While Hopkins was pleased with the margin of his team’s win, he said the three points were crucial.
“Goal difference is definitely important, but the game was all about the result and we highlighted that,” he said.
“We knew that if we didn’t win, we’d be right out of it and right off the pace so three points has kept us there or thereabouts.
“But we’ve still got a long way to go and we made a lot of decisions about the make up of the team and the bench based on having to win the game.”
