Impetus’ Ben Gilby reports on Sydney FC‘s media conference with defender Kirsty Fenton, whilst Ryan Miller-Woods heard the thoughts of Wellington Phoenix‘s new signing Tiana Jaber and head coach Paul Temple ahead of the A-League Women encounter between the two sides tomorrow (28/12/23).
Sydney FC defender Kirsty Fenton outlined the huge importance of the next three weeks for her team as they begin a run of seven league games in 31 days at home to Wellington Phoenix tomorrow.
With the defending champions having played two games fewer than the majority of teams in the A-League Women due to their AFC Women’s Club Championship group stage games, it’s catch-up time, on top of the regular schedule. It means that the Harbour City club will be playing twice a week between now and the end of January.
Whilst the load will be heavy, Fenton believes the club are well positioned to deal with it: “We don’t get as much rest, but once we get into the groove of it, and the momentum starts going forward and hopefully winning those games, we’ll be into the structure. We have the right facilities and the right staff to help us get through those games.”
After a period off over the Christmas period, when Fenton returned home to have some time with her family, all focus is now on tomorrow’s game with third-placed Wellington Phoenix. “After Christmas, we got straight back into it,” the defender said. “Mindset straight back into the game. Wellington are a good side, so we know that we need to really switch on, and switch off holiday mode!”
Sydney come into tomorrow’s game on the back of two successive draws – away to Perth Glory and at home to Brisbane Roar. To begin their serious push into the higher reaches of the table, Fenton knows that these draws need to be turned into wins, but that there is no immediate need for concern.
“It’s important (winning games) for the long-term goal of finishing on top and reaching the Grand Final…we wanted those draws to be wins, but we have games on hand, and future games coming up and we know we can capitalise on them…Anything’s possible, it only takes some teams to lose and for us to keep winning. We have a bit of a gap from the top of the table, but we have games in hand.”
The 20-year-old also believes that the real depth in strength in the Sydney squad will stand them in good stead over this busy period: “It’s good to have healthy competition, you want to be starting. It’s nothing against each other, as a player you want to be starting and having the 90 minutes. It definitely helps to push each other…to the best of their ability.”
Fenton and her Sydney teammates return to Allianz Stadium for tomorrow’s showdown with the Phoenix. It’s an arena that holds fond memories for the defender who scored there against cross-city rivals Western Sydney Wanderers: “Scoring at any stadium is such an amazing thing, and it was the opening goal against (Western Sydney) Wanderers as well, and I don’t get to score often, so it was pretty special for me.
“The field is amazing, that helps us a lot. It’s home ground, home crowd. The fans bring so much energy to help us push. We just want to keep winning no matter what the stadium is.”
Wellington Phoenix new signing Tiana Jaber’s arrival brings with her valuable A-League Women’s experience having played for Western Sydney Wanderers, Newcastle Jets, and most recently Western United as of last season.
Coming into the side as an injury replacement player for Marisa van der Meer in the backline, Jaber is a player who can play both as a centre-back and as a full-back which is a massive positive having someone who’s versatile, especially within the defence.
When asked about how the opportunity came about to sign for Wellington, Jaber said: “It was about last week. I got a call from my manager and he was saying that Wellington (Phoenix) need a player, they’ve been looking at me and were really happy with me to sign if I wanted to take the opportunity.”
The defender joins Wellington at a very important time of the season with the run of games that the Phoenix have for close to the next month where they are currently third on the A-League Women’s ladder.
Jaber revealed that the team’s style of play was a major attraction for her to sign on the dotted line. “I love how they play football,” she said.
Nix head coach Paul Temple outlined the process that led to the defender’s arrival in New Zealand. “We really wanted to get in somebody that was a centre-back who has got A-League (Women’s) experience, which wasn’t easy (to find at this time). Tiana is somebody we looked at in the off-season before we even started. So we kind of had her on our radar for a while.”
Wellington’s strong start to the season has been will be severely tested in the coming weeks with their next four matches being contested outside of New Zealand. So far, Wellington has won once away this season against Western Sydney but then suffered defeats in their next two away matches against Central Coast Mariners and Adelaide United respectively.
When asked about the next few weeks which could be season-defining for the Phoenix, Temple admitted: “The test for us is winning on the road. We’ve come up short at (Central Coast) Mariners and at Adelaide (United). In both games, we felt like we could have won, especially at Adelaide, we should have won. So, I think we kind of need to prove to ourselves really that if we want to stay in that top end of the table, we have to be able to go on the road and win.”
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