You can always rely on Natasha Dowie

The striker not only scores goals but creates opportunities for her teammates and leads through her actions.

The Englishwoman scored the first goal of the match after 10 minutes – a sharp header from a Darian Jenkins' cross.

Dowie’s goal set the standard for the game, and put Melbourne in good stead for the remainder of the match.

The 31-year old was physical on the ball as always, and despite copping a few knocks, Dowie was resilient and keen to get involved wherever possible.

Though you usually find Dowie front and centre scoring the goals, today she also made a couple of attacking runs on the wing and delivered a cross into the middle.

You can always count on Natasha Dowie and today was no exception.

Keeping possession is paramount

Both teams were guilty of giving away the ball too easily in today’s match.

Cheap turnover occurred regularly, and often the ball was given away when players were under no pressure whatsoever.

There was a huge number of poor passes, where both Jets and Victory found the feet of opposition players rather than their own.

Possession is key to winning games and scoring goals, but both teams struggled with stringing passes together and tightening up their lines.

Although Newcastle was slightly more guilty of giving away possession, Melbourne Victory’s Head Coach Jeff Hopkins also told his team at half time that the cheap turnovers needed to be rectified.

If these sides want to match it with the top teams, they’re going to need to improve this aspect of their game.

We climbed into fourth in the #WLeague after today's win over the Jets. #MVCvNEW report: https://t.co/ys618DXBy0 pic.twitter.com/e6nQOXECD7

— Victory W-League (@victorywleague) January 5, 2020 ">

 

Newcastle's midfield is letting them down

The Jets' midfield line was too far from their front line, making build-up play more difficult.

The distance between the midfield and the strikers meant that there was no outlet for the Jets to play into – the attacking players weren’t able to bounce passes backwards, and they didn’t have many options or support.  

This space resulted in Newcastle unsuccessfully opting to play the long ball rather than shorter, sharper passes.

If Newcastle was able to play more as a unit, they would have had better opportunities to create chances to get the ball into the back of the net.  

Newcastle has high calibre midfield players, but they were too disconnected with their front line today.

These quality midfielders would have had better luck being closer to their strikers to play quick 1-2’s and passes into space that would have provided better chances for their side.

The @NewcastleJetsFC are getting closer & closer every week.

Just need to fix that final pass & decision making & we'll be alright. #MVCvNEW #WLeague #MadeofNewcastle

— Daniel Hanney ⚽ ✈ (@DanHanney) January 5, 2020 ">