The Newcastle Jets will host Canberra United at Energy Australia Stadium in the Westfield W-League semi final on Saturday 10th January after the finals draw was released by the Football Federation Australia.
The Newcastle Jets will host Canberra United at Energy Australia Stadium in the Westfield W-League semi final on Saturday 10th January after the finals draw was released by the Football Federation Australia.
“I think it-s great particularly in our first season,” Canberra United CEO Heather Reid said.
“It-s been a great competition that-s come right down to the wire where any of the six teams could have made the semi finals during the final round but it was really encouraging that we had our finals spot cemented before we kicked off on Saturday.”
“It would have been nice to put the icing on the cake with a home semi here given the amount of support the Canberra community has given to the team but we-re happy with a semi final spot, even if it is in Newcastle.”
“I think they-re going to have a good crowd as we saw in Round One, I think the Novocastrians will come out and support their team just as much as the Canberra community has supported Canberra United.”
After finishing the season in third, one point behind the Jets, Canberra will be travelling to the Hunter where they kicked their season off ten weeks ago at Wanderers Oval with a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the home side.
The loss was one of only two defeats this season but signs were ominous despite the result with Canberra United dominating possession and the bulk of chances.
“I think most people who were there left coming away thinking that we were unfortunate in that first match,” Reid said of Canberra United-s first match of the year.
“We went into the game with limited preparation and players like [Thea] Slatyer, [Kara] Mowbray and [Sasha] McDonnell coming into the team without having trained with too many of the players, along with a lack of match fitness and the hot day all played a part in the result.”
“I think we-ll get some revenge on Newcastle, they had better watch out those Jets.”
This time around, Canberra enters the finals race undefeated in seven games which included a 1-1 draw with league champions Queensland Roar on Saturday evening.
“I-m certainly impressed with the improvement in the Canberra United play.”
“I think we-ve got really good depth right across the park and the understanding between players is a lot better and no doubt Robbie [Hooker] will be working on a lot more cohesion and striking because we need to score because we don-t want to be relying on penalties.”
