Western Sydney will be looking to bounce back from a 2-0 Sydney Derby loss when they tackle Newcastle Jets this Saturday at No. 2 Sportsground.
The Wander Women were competitive for the most part against the Sky Blues on Saturday night but were outplayed in the end by a more experienced team.
The Red & Black showed they had learned plenty from their opening round defeat against the Sky Blues, taking the game up to their more fancied opponents early.
Olivia Price and Libby Corpus-Brown were creative in the middle while veteran defender Caitlin Cooper and impressive youngster Margaux Chauvet kept the Sky Blues in check.
The loss of Cooper late in the first half after a collision put the Wanderers on the back foot, with the Sky Blues taking control of the match afterwards.
Second-half substitute Nikola Orgill was solid after coming on, including a spectacular clearance off-the-line to keep the Wanderers in the game. Leena Khamis as always showed plenty of fighting spirit, never taking a step backward, while Courtney Nevin enjoyed a running battle with former team-mate Cortnee Vine.
The Wander Women beat the Jets 2-1 a fortnight ago at the Wanderers Centre of Football with Rosie Galea netting a double.
The Jets go into this weekend’s game on the back of a 1-1 draw against Brisbane Roar on Sunday night. Ash Wilson’s team have been impressive this season, unlucky to lose to Sydney FC last weekend and probably deserved more against the Roar.
Tara Andrews netted again for the Novacastrians while Tessa Tamplin and Rhianna Pollicina were also impressive against the Queenslanders.
Andrews will once again be a threat to the Red & Black, having netted against them in Round Two.
Midfielders Libby Corpus-Brown and Teigan Collister will be returning home to face their former club while former Wanderer Tiana Jaber will be up for a big game against her old team-mates.
Newcastle Jets v Western Sydney Wanderers
No.2 Sportsground, 4:05pm
