Roar Women’s defender, Aimee Medwin has stated that the side is eager to build on their flying form when they face the Wellington Phoenix in Sunday’s A-League semi-final first leg.
Their semi-final opponents, Wellington Phoenix, finished the regular season in second place with a competition-best goal difference of plus 21, but the Roar will arrive in form, winning four consecutive matches and scoring fourteen goals.
“We’re going to put our best foot forward. It’s going to be about us honing in on our game plan and taking the momentum that we have from this game into those two next ones,” Medwin said.
The 3-0 win over Adelaide United in last Saturday’s Elimination Final was the Roar’s first Women’s A-League finals win since 2014. Despite a goalless first half, the Roar carried their dominance into the second period and converted three goals to seal the win.
“We went into halftime and were calm. We had spoken about our tactics and what we wanted to do,” Medwin said.
Medwin, ever-present in the Roar’s lineup this season, primarily at fullback, shifted to left wing against Adelaide and was a constant threat going forward. After a stunning Kijah Stephenson brace, Medwin put the cherry on top with a late goal in the final ten minutes to complete the victory.
“We had spoken about making forward runs, especially between their back three and that was something we tried to focus on. I saw Tish [Alicia Woods] and I saw the pockets. I made the run and it paid off, and the ball came through, and I was able to get it in,” she said.
Reaching the semi-finals holds special significance for Medwin, who previously spent three seasons with Western United and was ruled out through ACL injury the last time her side progressed this far.
Medwin puts the Roar’s success down to the vision of head coach Alex Smith and a squad that has dug deep all season.
“When we came in at the start of the season, he [Alex Smith] said he wanted to take this team to the finals,” she said.
“It was definitely on us to get ourselves there, and we’ve had adversity through injuries and games not going our way, but we were able to turn the season around and now we are on this really strong run.”
Spencer Park was at capacity on Saturday night, with 3,500 supporters turning out and helping drive the Roar to victory.
“We were so excited when we knew it was a sold-out crowd,” Medwin said.
“Even when we’re tired and we don’t want to make that run, the crowd gets behind you and you want to do it for them. It’s so good to have such loyal fans and people that want to come out and support us in the women’s game. We love it.”
The Roar will look to harness the power of their home crowd once more when they host Wellington Phoenix this Sunday evening at 5pm AEST at Spencer Park.
