Glory will be looking to build upon last weekend’s impressive 2-1 win over Brisbane Roar when they face Melbourne Victory at Lakeside Stadium on Saturday in Round Two of the Foxtel Y-League.
An own-goal from Roar defender Jordan Courtney-Perkins and an Abias Bukuru strike proved enough to secure all three points at Dorrien Gardens, but while pleased with the first-up victory, Head Coach Richard Garcia feels that there is plenty more to come from his young charges.
“It was a decent performance from the guys,” he said. “They were all very excited to get into their first game and it’s good to get a win, but there are improvements to be made for sure.
“They are still young boys and learning the game, but it was a solid start and performance for the first game of the season.
“All four of the attacking players [two strikers and two wing-backs] were exceptional, but the whole team deserve credit and played really well.
“I thought the guys in midfield did really well and controlled the game and steadied the ship for us, while the guys at the back defended well, despite a little lapse of concentration late on. But these are some of the improvements we need to make.”
In terms of Saturday morning’s clash in Melbourne, meanwhile, Garcia believes that the team is well capable of chalking up a second consecutive win.
“It’s a new challenge for the group with so many players in their first season in the NYL, but we head east full of confidence,” he said.
“We learnt a lot as a group last week, some positives and some negatives, but we got the result and I thought we played some good football. We will be looking to build and improve on that performance this Saturday.
“They [Victory] lost their opening game in Adelaide, so they will be determined to bounce back this week. We need to show the same desire and improve on the performance last week to keep heading in the right direction”
Forward Ethan Brooks, meanwhile, was a constant threat against Roar last week in what was his first Foxtel Y-League game and the 18-year-old was understandably pleased with both the performance and the result.
“I think we played really well for our first game, pressing them high up the field and causing turnovers for our forwards to capitalise on,” he said.
“We’ve prepared ourselves over the course of the year and Richie [Garcia] really helped us in terms of physical conditioning this pre-season, so we’re able to cope with the league.
“There are obviously a lot of areas both offensively and defensively where we can improve, but hopefully away to Victory we can pick up the win.
“It’s vital to start your away games with a good performance and we’ll be doing all we can to win on the road.
“I think as long as we can stay focused and stick to the game plan that Richie has set up for us, we are more than capable of beating any team in the league.”
Kick-off time at Lakeside Stadium is 10.30am (local), 7.30am WST and you can follow the action via the Glory Twitter page HERE.
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