Captain Laura Hall expects a strong response from Newcastle Olympic after two potentially costly losses in their past three outings.
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Last year's beaten grand finalists were widely tipped to be pushing for the NPLW Northern NSW premiership and have been one of the pace-setters through the first half of this season.
But they have stumbled slightly in recent weeks, going down 1-0 to fourth-placed Maitland in round nine before succumbing 2-1 to leaders Broadmeadow last weekend in round 11.
The results have left them in third place on 22 points as they eye a team on the rise in sixth-placed New Lambton.
The Eagles are still some way off the pace of the top four with 13 points but have been bolstered by Jets trio Cassidy Davis, Lauren Allan and Tara Andrews in recent weeks and are coming off a 4-0 win over fifth-placed Adamstown (16).
Olympic and New Lambton meet at Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility in round 12 of NPLW NNSW on Saturday night (7pm).
"It probably wasn't a bad thing for us, it definitely knocked any complacency out of us having the loss against Maitland and then the loss to Magic as well," Hall said.
"So, if anything, we've got a bit of fire back in the belly, which is good, and a little bit of extra motivation and eagerness to improve and get the results that are going to reflect the way we've been playing.
"We've been playing well, just not executing and getting the results that show that."
The match is being staged at the Speers Point facility for Female Football Week.
It is the first time they have played this campaign as their round-one match was postponed until June 11.
"They're definitely an unknown for us, not having played them yet," Hall said.
"But from their results, they've obviously had the injection of the Jets girls and are starting to gel and get some good results against tough teams. So, it's going to be a really tough game and a good one for Female Football Week.
"For us, within our club, we use this week to reconnect with our junior girls. We had our first-grade girls go along and watch our under sixes community team and they came along and played a game at half-time against Magic.
"It's just making sure that our senior squads are visible and encouraging and mentoring our younger girls coming up through Newcastle Olympic."
Olympic will still be without former A-League goalkeeper Claire Coelho, who is away, while Davis expected the Eagles to be close to full strength.
The long-serving Jets player and captain said New Lambton were starting to find their stride after a slow start to the season.
"It was good to get a win and another clean sheet last weekend, that's always positive," Davis said.
"A bigger positive is we created a lot more chances than we did against Maitland [in round 10]. We haven't played them yet so it's a bit of the unknown, but they're a top team and they've got some players who can do damage. We just need to make sure that we're on across the whole park.
"It will be nice to play at Speers Point and I would expect it will be a very fast-paced game."
The match is the first of a big week for Olympic, who back up midweek to duel with Charlestown (24) in the Women's League Cup semi-finals then take on Adamstown the following Saturday.
On Sunday (4pm), Azzurri host Adamstown at Lisle Carr Oval and Warners Bay (0) are at home to Mid Coast (3) at John Street Oval.
The round-12 match between Broadmeadow (28) and Maitland (21) scheduled for Friday night at Magic Park was washed out.
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