Victory eye double derby delight in ALW

Melbourne City have hit their straps but Victory skipper Lia Privitelli isn’t worried their cross-town rivals will turn the tables in the second derby of the A-League Women season.

Victory came from a goal down to beat City 2-1 in their first derby of the year, in round two at AAMI Park.

City have won their other two games while Victory have won all three, setting up a tantalising second derby on Boxing Day.

“We couldn’t have started the first three rounds in a better way,” Privitelli said.

“A club record getting the first three wins. So high in confidence and really looking forward to another solid performance on the weekend.

“It’s gonna be a tough game, regardless.

“But if we can come out and play our game I have no doubt that we’ll walk away with three points.”

City’s New Zealand international Hannah Wilkinson got off the mark with two goals against Adelaide at the weekend.

But when asked about the danger of a striker in form, Privitelli backed teammate Claudia Bunge to handle her fellow Kiwi, while pointing to the attacking threat of Victory’s own Catherine Zimmerman, Lynn Williams and Harriet Withers

“We’re lucky because we’ve got three strikers in form. So we’ll be scoring lots of goals,” she said.

Privitelli, who has taken the captain’s armband since Kayla Morrison suffered a season-ending knee injury in round one, stressed the job wasn’t her “forte”.

But Bunge hailed her stand-in skipper, who scored two goals in the previous derby but has since also deputised at left-back.

“Lia’s great. She’s very versatile on the field and I think the perfect person for the job,” she said.

“Obviously we’ve got a leadership group, so there’s a couple of other girls in and around that area as well.

“But she stepped up well and hopefully she can do the same again this weekend.”