Credit: Getty Images Credit: Getty Images

A double from Stephanie Ochs and a calm finish from Michelle Heyman in blustery conditions at Wanderers Oval moved Canberra to second spot on the ladder while ensuring the Jets remain grounded after five rounds of football.

Canberra came to the Hunter looking to bounce back from last week’s loss to Brisbane and while this week’s score line of 3-0 appeared convincing on paper, they would have felt it was not as complete a performance as they would have liked.

Credit must go to the home side who showed a much improved performance on last week’s match spurred on by the local crowd.

Even after Canberra took the lead with an Ochs’ curler from the edge of the area, scored again through Heyman, add to that a recently confirmed ACL injury to Maddie Searl just moments later, and the Jets would perhaps have been forgiven for throwing in the towel and conceding defeat.

They continued to take up the fight to Canberra and didn’t appear to have the lapses in concentration or intensity, particularly in the second half, as had been the case in previous matches.

Jets’ captain Gema Simon said she was pleased of her side’s effort. “Proud of the girls today, we played until the end. We’ve been playing well in patches (previously) but played most of the game today, (we) were just unfortunate.”

Rhali Dobson worked well in attack for Newcastle combining with Simon and Hannah Beard up front. Dobson has been a bright spot all season and again had the Jets best attacking opportunity of the first half.

Played into the box via a good Simon through ball, Dobson found herself in a one on one but was well saved by a sharp Lydia Williams who blocked the shot.

This is the area Newcastle will look to improve in as their finishing has been a problem for them so far. Had that chance been converted the game’s dynamics would have changed as the score would have been 2-1 half time.

For Canberra it was Ochs and Heyman who took the game away from the home side wreaking havoc with the Jets defence and could have had more goals between them as Heyman hit the crossbar on more than one occasion.

Canberra, like Newcastle will also be looking to improve ahead of the trip to Perth this week. Newcastle had the better of the second half in terms of possession and the Canberra midfield struggled to have the control they had in the first half.

At the end of the day United simply had too much quality, class and speed for Newcastle to handle with the wide players frequently able to turn and beat defenders.

Despite a below par performance by Canberra’s high standards they were able to get back into the winners circle. While Newcastle had a much improved performance in regards to intensity throughout the course of the match.