Essendon Mazda Coach’s Comment: Battiato looking for improvement in key moments

Vince Battiato says his Essendon Royals Senior Women’s team will need to be better in the key moments to turn Sunday’s dominant performance against Spring Hills into three points against Moreland Zebras.

The Royals coach was left frustrated by his side’s inability to win a game it enjoyed the vast majority of possession and chances last week but was buoyed by the numbers following the performance.

“We lost the moments on Sunday, and because of that, we lost the game,” Battiato said of Sunday night’s 3-1 loss to Spring Hills.

“We had them pinned down in their half for long periods of that game, and the stats were one-sided, other than the scoreline.

“We had ten shots on target to their four. The difference is that they scored with three of theirs, and we only scored one.

“For us, it’s a wake-up call, but I’m glad to have a wake-up call in round two when there’s plenty of time to rectify it.”

Battiato said it was important for his women to learn the lesson before taking on the highly-fancied Moreland Zebras.

“If we give Moreland the sniffs we gave Spring Hills, they will be even more deadly in front of goal, so this is not a game where we can be giving gifts to the other team,” he said.

“Our midfield was great against Spring Hills, and we need to try and win that battle in the middle once again here.

“They have some big names in the middle of the park like Cindy Lay and Jess Howe, so we need to stop those quality players from supplying Laura Spiranovic. Laura has played for Melbourne Victory and in the Women’s Champions League with [Hajduk] Split, so we’re talking some serious quality there.

“The more we can stop the supply, the more we can feed our own forward, the better our chances will be.

“And we know that Moreland are not impenetrable because they conceded two last week against Bundoora.”

Battiato suggested that despite the loss last week, it would be hard to make wholesale changes to the squad.

“If we remove those errors, it was actually a very good performance,” he said.

“Any changes will be more about ensuring players are getting enough minutes to stay match fit.”