Glory skipper Jamie Coyne says Perth will take the confidence of beating Sydney last Sunday into today’s match against Adelaide but aren’t underestimating their opponents who continually prove themselves on the big stage.
Glory skipper Jamie Coyne says Perth will take the confidence of beating Sydney last Sunday into today-s match against Adelaide but aren-t underestimating their opponents who continually prove themselves on the big stage.
The bulk of Adelaide-s squad arrived back in South Australia on Saturday morning following their historic qualification for the Asian Champion-s League Final. Despite the Reds taking the best part of 30 hours to arrive home Coyne doesn-t expect the match at Hindmarsh to be anything but a tough encounter.
“It is great for Australian football what they-ve been able to achieve and we wish them well in the Champions League final,” Coyne said.
“Our focus though is fully fixed on getting three points, it-s a big game for us. We got a win last week with a really committed team effort and that-s what we-ll be out to do against Adelaide.
The depth of Adelaide-s squad is one of their key strengths and Coyne believes there will be plenty of guys wanting to prove they deserve a spot in the Champions League Final.
“I know as a player that when you get an opportunity to play you want to make the most of it, so whoever takes part, no matter if they-re a regular starter or not, will be ultra competitive.
“We-ll have to be on our guard and won-t be taking anything for granted,” said Coyne.
Coach Dave Mitchell has maintained the majority of the line-up that registered the 2-1 win against Sydney at Members Equity Stadium with defender Dino Djulbic, who is back after missing the past five matches through suspension, the only change to the 15 man squad.
Coyne said there is a resolve amongst the playing group to ensure last week-s impressive performance isn-t a one off.
“The team has always been together, there were a variety of reasons why we hadn-t been playing well but the morale never diminished.
“We believe that we can achieve good things with this squad and we want to keep the good feeling going.”
