The Newcastle Jets put up a brave fight but were not able to stage a late comeback in a 1-0 loss to Melbourne Victory in A-League Women at McDonald Jones Stadium on Tuesday night.
The Victory were dominant in the first half and had numerous chances on goal, but the breakthrough did not come until American Brooke Hendrix scored with a header off Polly Doran's free kick in the 55th minute.
Newcastle finished stronger than they started but could not find an equaliser.
The result elevated fourth-placed Victory to 18 points and left Newcastle in sixth with nine points as they look to play their third game in 10 days when they host unbeaten league leaders Sydney (25) at No.2 Sportsground on Sunday.
The Jets went into the match without experienced duo Hannah Brewer and Tara Andrews due to COVID-related isolation and with several players battling illness.
The club also confirmed on Tuesday that forward Sunny Franco had been ruled out for the rest of the season with an ankle injury.
Norwegian international Marie Dolvik Markussen was limited to just the last 16 minutes of the game as she continues to recover from COVID, and steely centre-back Taren King watched from the bench due to illness.
Jets coach Ash Wilson was forced to make three changes to her starting side ahead of the crucial clash.
Defender Tiana Jaber and midfielders Lucy Johnson and Bethany Gordon started in place of Brewer, Dolvik Markussen and King, and there were several positional changes.
In comparison, Melbourne welcomed the return of defender Courtney Nevin and midfielder Kyra Cooney-Cross from Matildas duties for the game.
Cooney-Cross was a constant menace down the right flank and created numerous scoring opportunities for Melbourne.
Jets goalkeeper Claire Coelho produced another strong performance to keep the scoreline respectable. She palmed away Catherine Zimmerman's volley in the 20th minute then stopped Maja Markovski's close-range effort with her shins in the 42nd.
Cooney-Cross put a shot across the face of goal in the 37th and Alexandra Chidiac hit the woodwork for Victory in the 42nd.
Coelho denied a long-range effort from Chidiac over the bar four minutes after the goal came.
Sophie Harding gave Newcastle their best chance of the first half when her right-footed shot from inside the left edge of the 18-yard box was parried away by Casey Dumont.
The second-half injections of Dolvik Markussen and Lauren Allan, who came back into the squad after missing Newcastle's 3-0 loss to Adelaide in Adelaide last Friday due to an ankle complaint, sparked the Jets attack.
Sixteen-year-old Lara Gooch replaced Jets co-captain Gema Simon in the 74th minute and made some impressive plays in her ALW debut.
