Melbourne Victory coach Jeff Hopkins says he saw plenty of positive signs from his side, despite a fourth-straight A-League Women match without a win.
The Victory were held to a 1-1 draw by Perth Glory to kick off the league's Unite Round, before Central Coast Mariners pulled off an upset by beating Wellington 2-1.
Victory took the lead after 28 minutes through a Rachel Lowe header at Leichhardt Oval in Sydney, but had to settle for a point after a second-half own goal from defender Jamilla Rankin.
After three consecutive defeats at the hands of Melbourne City, Western Sydney Wanderers and Western United, the draw puts Victory - at least temporarily - back inside the top six.
Hopkins saw the point as a step in the right direction against second-placed Perth.
“What it showed me is there's still a lot of belief in this team, a lot of character, the way we played against a very good side who play a really different and difficult system for us to negotiate,” he said.
“Very, very proud of the way that they rolled up their sleeves and showed really good character in the way we attacked the game, because confidence maybe wasn't at its highest after the results of the last few weeks.”
Perth are enduring a slump of their own, with Friday's draw meaning they have now won just once in five games.
Lowe opened the scoring shortly before the half-hour mark, a wicked cross from Rankin not cleared by Perth’s defenders with the forward drifting in at the back post.
Rankin was involved in Glory's equaliser, too; on the receiving end as a corner from Hana Lowry beat all-comers before the ball deflected into her own net off the Victory defender.
“Victory had probably a few more shots than we did, but our possession was more controlled and more cutting at times,” Perth coach Alex Epakis said.
“When you balance those two things up, I would say that maybe (a draw) is a fair outcome.”
The Mariners beat the fourth-placed Phoenix for the second time this season after coming back from a goal down.
A poor clearance from goalkeeper Casey Dumont gifted Wellington a lead inside three minutes, with Emma Main only too happy to cash in.
But Central Coast forward Rola Badawiya made up for a bad earlier miss with some clever footwork and a precise finish across Phoenix keeper Rylee Foster to make it 1-1 midway through the first half.
And 17-year-old starlet Peta Trimis was just as composed when her moment came calling on 34 minutes, comfortably tucking the ball home with her left boot to earn her side the win.
