Melbourne City’s Welsh midfielder Jessica Fishlock believes there’s a target sitting on the back of the club as they head into their maiden finals series, but she believes they won’t bow to the pressure.
12 straight wins have catapulted the club into the national spotlight in their debut season, as they claimed an unprecedented perfect season to claim the Minor Premiership.
A semi-final clash with Brisbane Roar awaits City on Monday afternoon, a team who pose a considerable threat, having come home strong in the back end of the season.
But Fishlock believes form means nothing – true for both sides – as the one-off nature of finals football is a different entity of its own.
“I think that we’ll look back on what we’ve achieved as a huge accomplishment but we go into [Finals] games with a separate mindset,” Fishlock said.
“When you have the league and you have finals, you have to have a different mindset because they are just one-off games. It’s not about a league culture its not about consistency, its just about ‘can you perform on this day’.
“That’s the way that we look at it – we don’t feel added pressure every time we look at our achievements. I believe we’ll have a big smile on our faces.”
Fishlock believes the nature of the season they’ve had this year and with the star-studded line-up at their disposal, they will be the ones hunted throughout the Finals series, which may force the best out of their opponents this weekend.
The midfielder however trusts in the mindset of her teammates to continue on with their run, and has put the onus on focusing on their own performance rather than that of the Roar.
“It’s exciting. I think its up to us,” she said.
“I think if you look at what we’ve been able to do this season and they players that we have, I think its up to us and our mentality. We have a week now to prepare.
“Brisbane is going to be a good team and are always going to be tricky. The reality of it is that everyone right now really wants to beat us so they’re going to give an extra 10-15% on top of what they have.
“We have to understand them, we have to know them, we have to be ready for them and I believe that we will be.”
Fishlock reiterated her confidence in the playing group, and stated the season would count for much less if they don’t make it through to the W-League decider.
“Like I said, I think they group that we have is a very special one and I don’t think right now that we’d want to have the season that we’ve had and drop out on Monday.
“I believe in these girls, I’m confident in these girls and I don’t think the fact that it’s a semi-final will hinder us.
I’m really excited to play at AAMI Park [and] I think that’ll help us on a big pitch.”