Melbourne Victory Head Coach Jeff Hopkins is ready for another tough week for his side after falling to a 4-2 loss to Brisbane Roar on Sunday.
Victory was in control at AAMI Park after a Jessie Rasschaert own goal and Lynn Williams strike.
But after a Larissa Crummer goal, a red card to Kyra Cooney-Cross turned the game and Brisbane took three points after strikes from Katrina Gorry, Shea Connors and Ayesha Norrie.
Speaking to media, Hopkins discussed his side’s second straight loss, Cooney-Cross’ red card and missing players due to COVID.
on the red card…
“It changed the game. We obviously then allowed them to chase the game and to put us under pressure and we didn’t deal with it very well. In fact, we were poor in the way that we dealt with the last 25 minutes or so of the game.”
on Cooney-Cross’ absence through suspension and possibly Commonwealth Bank Matildas duty…
“I guess if she’s picked, then I guess, maybe, yeah. Again, I’m not really thinking too far ahead. We’re making arrangements for the Asian Cup obviously. I feel a bit disappointed for her actually because she was kind of blindsided. She didn’t see Crummer coming in that slide and she was actually trying to take a touch and move the ball and switch play and kind of came in from one side, she did actually catch her, but was there any malice in there, were her studs up? No, they weren’t. I do feel for her actually. In answer to your question, it definitely had a huge impact on the game and definitely we didn’t deal with that change in mentality very well. Whether we see Kyra again or not, maybe, maybe not, but I wouldn’t have thought so.”
on absences…
“We put our PCR tests in together, but they’ve taken an absolute age to come back and some of them have come back, some of them haven’t and it’s just something you’ve got to be aware of in these times. They’re really busy in the test centres and it’s disappointing that the girls couldn’t play, but rules are rules and we just need to abide by them.”
on defensive worries…
“It’s not just a clean sheet, it’s nine goals in two games. We’re working on things, we’re working defensively through the week. It’s not a worry, but it’s something we’ve got to deal with, stuff like this comes up every season and we’ve already spoken about it. Last week was a really hard week for us coming off a 5-1 defeat in the Derby, next week will be even harder for us so girls, you better be ready for a tough week because talk to a number of the senior players as well that have been through this before, it’s hard work coming off two defeats and then preparing all week to go and win the game and to put that behind us. There’s going to be a lot said through the week, there’s going to be a lot of hard work and most probably going to have to look at a number of things that will be hard to look at through the review, but it’s how you get through these things. Players will just have to stick with it.”
