Adelaide United Women’s Westfield W-League 2019/20 season draws to a close on Thursday night when they host Newcastle Jets Women at Marden Sports Complex.
While finals football eludes the Reds for another season, pride is on the line for the hosts in the bottom of the ladder clash.
A win for Ivan Karlović’s side against the Jets would see the two teams swap places and more importantly move United off the foot of the table.
Reds midfielder, Dylan Holmes, admits ending the season on a high note is the primary focus.
“We are going into this game really wanting the three points and definitely to avoid finishing bottom is a huge motivation for us,” she said.
“And we are working really hard the last couple of weeks to make sure that we can get the win.”
Newcastle come into the match reeling from a 7-0 trouncing they suffered against Melbourne Victory Women on Sunday and Holmes she is anticipating an extremely motivated outfit.
“I think when any team suffers a result like that I think the next game is really important to try and put things right,” she explained.
“So we are expecting Newcastle to come out firing in that game and we’ll be wary of them.”
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The 22-year-old midfielder was also hopeful of a seeing a big crowd at Marden for the Reds’ last match of 2019/20.
“When we have a lot of our supporters there it makes a huge difference for us,” she said.
“Understandably results have been a bit difficult this year but this week we are really working hard to try and put in a performance that our supporters will be proud of.”
Assuming Holmes features on Thursday, it would be the second straight campaign where she has played in all 12 matches.
Holmes said it was a real honour to play at this level and feels her and the rest of the local players will continue improving the more games they get under their belts.
“Every time you get the chance to play is a really great opportunity for me, so I’m just trying to learn as much as I can,” she said.
“And help my teammates in any way possible to try and get results, but I’ve really learned a lot this year.
“I think I can easily say for all the South Australian girls that every year the more opportunities we get at this level the better players we’ll become.
“This year especially we’ve gotten a lot of opportunities and I see the growth of the girls every week, so that’s been really exciting to see.”
Adelaide United Women host Newcastle Jets Women in Round 14 of the Westfield W-League 2019/20 season on Thursday, 27 February at Marden Sports Complex. Kick-off is at 7.00pm ACDT. Live and Exclusive on Fox Sports, Kayo Sports and the My Football Live App.
