A-League Women’s coach Jeff Hopkins spoke to the media post-match after his side’s win over Newcastle United
On the performance…
“I thought we played really well with the ball today.”
“We started the game really well, we got an early goal, we settled down.”
“In the first half, we got ourselves into a lot of good positions, we didn’t take advantage of those positions as we’d hoped to.”
“I thought the second half was much much better… We were able to play through them quite regularly and created quite a lot of chances.”
On Rachel Lowe…
“I think Rachel has been good right from game one really, she’s a quality player.”
“[Her] game minutes were limited in preseason so now she’s playing 90 minute games she’s really starting to impact.”
“I was very impressed with Rachel’s impact on the game and her performance.”
On Emily Gielnik’s injury…
“She felt her calf just tighten up so we took her off as a precaution.”
“She’ll probably have a scan tonight or early tomorrow morning.”
“Everyone else has pulled up well… The rest of the squad played this morning as well.”
“We’re in pretty good shape physically as a group.”
On the turnaround in form…
“We had a short preparation for the season but I guess over the last two or three weeks I’ve been really impressed and proud of the girls.
“They’ve taken on board all the tactical work we’ve done, all the team meetings and the line meetings… It’s a real credit to them.”
“We’re now starting to look a lot more cohesive as a team, a lot more dangerous in a lot of different areas.”
