Wanderers Westfield W-League head coach Dean Heffernan has nothing but praise for his side after they showed plenty of resilience to overcome the Newcastle Jets 1-0 at Bankwest Stadium on Friday night.
While the Red & Black dominated large parts of the game and could have won by a greater margin, they were nonetheless made to work hard by the Jets for a victory that made it two wins from two starts for the season.
“You should have all the girls in here and talk to them, not me,” said Heffernan.
“It was a tough game, one of those you expect from Newcastle. We knew they weren’t going to make it easy.
“The lightning and thunder (which caused the game to be delayed for 30 minutes halfway through the first half) helped them a little bit because it helped them regroup and plan how they were going to stop us because that first 30 minutes from us was frightening.
“It was really good to see how well they put together a game (plan) we worked on a lot during the week.
“The way we dug in all way the way to the end with some tough calls, a disallowed goal, a lot of frees not going our way … I am really proud of the performance.”
Heffernan gave Wanderers debuts to US international Lynn Williams and Republic of Ireland midfielder Denise O’Sullivan who were both quick to make an impact.
Williams was a threat every time she was on the ball, using her pace and skill to torment the Jets defence while O’Sullivan was a terrier in midfielder and combined superbly with Ella Mastrantonio.
“I was very happy with them,” said Heffernan.
“It was really good how the players around them helped get them on the ball and get the ball in areas where they can be dangerous.
“When Lynn is running at players you have got to say there is so much power as she glides past people as does Kristen (Hamilton).
“The presence of the overseas girls is great for our Aussie girls because they are stepping up as well.”
