Galaxy upbeat despite 2-1 loss
GALAXY United coach Kat Smith is happy with the progression her side is making despite a shaky start to the 2018 season.
United remain winless from two games after a 2-1 loss to Alamein at home on Saturday, but Smith is not worrying just yet.
“Our performance was much stronger than last week,” Smith said.
“I can see where we are hurting teams. It’s pleasing in some respects to know we are competitive against (good) teams without playing our best football.
“It’s a very long season. We will measure ourselves on our key performance indicators that we have.
“It’s great internally, that’s what we look at. But at the end of the day we need to get three points.
“We will look to again improve our performance against Bulleen and see if we can get that W on the board. The staff and the players need to work hard during the week to make sure we can keep ticking off those one percenters and getting better week in and out.”
Alamein opened the scoring in the ninth minute when the ball was scrappily bundled over the line.
But Laura Spiranovic levelled scores in the 33rd minute, slotting home an Adriana Ta- ranto free kick to give Galaxy a sniff of victory.
Amy Jackson then stole the three points for Alamein, burying a header from a flick-on in the 83rd minute.
“I think we had a little slow start and we were caught out especially in wide areas with Alamein playing quite direct,” Smith said.
“Second half having equalised with a great set piece, we found it very difficult against a team that likes to press quite high.
“Then there was the added challenge of that sea breeze in the second half and we found it quite hard to get out of our own half.”
MEANWHILE, Smith was honoured for her coaching with Melbourne Victory’s WLeague team, earning the gong of female coach of the year at the Female Football Week awards.