Melbourne Victory’s barren start to the Westfield W-League 2015/16 season has continued after suffering a 1-0 defeat to the Newcastle Jets at Broadmeadows Valley Park on Saturday afternoon.
The match’s defining goal came about in first-half injury time when Rhali Dobson’s lateral ball picked out Chloe Logarzo, who made no mistake dispatching it into the net despite Alex Natoli’s attemped clearance.
David Edmondson opted to make a handul of selection changes, bringing Jessica Pitts into the centre of defence alongside Thea Slatyer. Hayley Raso and Christine Nairn also came into the starting 11.
The former looked lively early on with a number of bustling runs down the right causing a series of heart flutters in the Jets defence.
Melbourne was full of verve in the opening stanza, enabling it to move the ball around and involve its wingers.
Its best chance of the first half fell to Nairn, who went agonisingly close to sneaking the ball into the left hand corner from a set piece.
Victory were forced onto the back foot in the early stages of the second half after Logarzo went down in the area under a challenge from Slatyer. Melissa Barbieri stepped up to keep out the resultant penalty to the delight of the home fans.Â
Nairn demonstarted her class once again in on the hour mark, this time putting Hannah Southwell on the back foot with a blast from 35 yards.Â
Annabel Martin forced a fine save from the Jets custodian before Slatyer’s dipping header crashed off the crossbar.
Victory’s pressure intensified as it sought the elusive equaliser, but it wasn’t enough in the end as the Jets held on for the win.
Victory will be looking to bounce back when it faces Adelaide United at Epping Stadium on Sunday week.
Melbourne Victory 0Â
Newcastle Jets 1 (Logarzo 45+2′)
