W-League: Newcastle Jets chasing important win against Melbourne Victory

Newcastle have not played Victory since the the club-worst W-League result, which came in the penultimate round of last season. A week later Newcastle were holding the wooden spoon.

The stakes will be high when they face off in a round-seven clash at Latrobe City Stadium on Sunday.

Newcastle are in sixth place with four points, five points adrift of the top four. Melbourne are fifth on seven points. A Jets' win will put the two teams on equal footing as they reach the halfway point in their respective seasons.

"As a goalkeeper those ones always hurt and give you nightmares every now and then, but it's a different squad this year and I haven't been under the same amount of shots and pressure as I was last year," Coelho said.

"That has shown that our defence and midfield have really stepped up and been a little more focused and we haven't afforded teams as many shots as the past, so hopefully that stays and we get a clean sheet."

Newcastle have had one win, one draw and three losses from five outings. They are yet to record a clean sheet and last round, when they lost 2-0 to unbeaten leaders Sydney at Cromer Park, was the first time they have not scored in a game this campaign.

"It's been a bit of a mixed bag, to be honest," Coelho said. "Even on the games where we've lost, we've still had patches that were impressive and stayed in the game. We haven't been thumped or out of games.

"But being clinical at both ends would be our focus ... finish our chances and also always stay switched on at the back and limit the opportunities for the other team."

Victory have been a touch inconsistent. They have scored nine goals but have also conceded nine in five games and results have included a 6-0 win over Melbourne City and a 6-0 loss to Brisbane.

The Jets were scheduled to have the bye this weekend but W-League games were rescheduled due to coronavirus lockdowns in Perth and Newcastle were informed on Monday they would instead be playing Victory on the road.

Jets coach Ash Wilson said the fixture amendment had not impacted training too much this week and will take a relatively unchanged squad to Melbourne.

"They've got some quality players," Wilson said of Victory. "I anticipate [striker] Lisa De Vanna to get more game time this week. She's coming off the back of an injury and played off the bench last week and I think they're just trying to ease her back into it. If she's starting, she's going to be quite a threat. She's a fantastic runner with the ball and she's confident.

"They're an organised team. They work hard. They like to get forward and they've got people like Amy Jackson in the middle of the park, and [Annalie] Longo if she's back, that can cause trouble.

"[Kyra] Cooney-Cross likes to run through the middle as well, so they've got some good players in there that can make moves and make it difficult for us if we're not organised and if we haven't looked at ways at which we can limit those threats."

Wilson described this weekend's result as crucial to Newcastle's finals hopes.

"We're in a position where every game is important, this week in particular," she said. "[A win] will help us bridge the gap with those teams sitting on seven points and just ahead of us and outside the top four ... every game for us is almost like a finals series at this point."

The match kicks off at 6.05pm. On Thursday night, Sydney (15 points) beat City (four) 2-0 at AAMI Park while on Sunday Wanderers (three) host Adelaide (nine) at Marconi Stadium.

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