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Hi everyone, it’s good to talk to you again and I hope you are staying safe and indoors.
It’s been a pretty similar week for me this week, with home schooling, home fitness workouts and looking after my family. So for my captain’s column, I thought I’d pick out what I think are our three best performances this season.
Game 1 – 2-1 vs Melbourne City – 29th December 2019 – Netstrata Jubilee Stadium.
I think the belief and character we have stood out in this game more than anything which is why I’ve chosen it. A lot went against us but we came through with flying colours. City took the lead and we were reduced to ten men all within three minutes when Rhyan got sent off.
However, there was still a lot of time to come back and when you are down to ten men, you always get opportunities to score; it’s just crucial that you take them. To get one back straight away with Alfie was great.
We then had our penalty saved which could have thrown us, but for everyone to stay calm, keep to a structure and a plan was fantastic.
In the second half we knew we were going to be under pressure and we withstood it. In fact, the longer it went on the more we got into the game and I thought we were the better team.
Kosta scored a magnificent winner which was important because they were in second and it would have brought them closer to us. That gave us confidence for the rest of the season.
Game 2 – 4-1 vs Melbourne Victory – 7th March 2020 – Marvel Stadium
Ahead of Melbourne, we were coming off a loss to the Wanderers and a disappointing draw against Jeonbuk in the Champions League where we conceded an undeserved last-minute goal. It was a short turnaround to be playing Victory three days later so to show that sort of character again and come back, especially after they had scored early was immense.
There was also some good team play and quality goals, particularly for the third. Caceres hit a great individual effort and it was hugely impressive that we were able to run over the top of them and come away with a big win.
Most importantly it was good to bounce back that week. Over the last few seasons whenever we’ve had a bad result, we’ve always been able to bounce back with a good one and it was important to do that and keep the gap in the Premiership.
Game 3 – 3-1 vs Perth Glory – 23rd November 2020 – HBF Park OR 5-1 vs Brisbane Roar – 7th December 2020 – Netstrata Jubilee Stadium.
It’s really hard to split these two. The Perth game was an early Grand Final rematch so to go over to WA and beat the defending Premiers Plate holders was an excellent show of intent. It’s a difficult place to go at the best of times with all the travel, so we took lots of confidence from the 3-1 win.
Against Brisbane at home we were unbelievable in the first half and were 3-0 up at half time. There were some really good team goals and great finishes including a hat trick for Alfie and a first goal for Trent Buhagiar on returning from injury.
It could have been 5-0 as they only scored with the last kick of the game from the spot, but Brisbane have shown recently what a good team they are having performed well since, so it was no mean feat to destroy them like that.
Alex Wilkinson
