The oldest player in the Hyundai A-League has urged his Perth Glory teammates to avoid becoming complacent ahead of the final game of the regular season against Sydney FC this weekend.
Perth’s goalkeeper Ante Covic says the team is “brimming with confidence” on the back of a mesmerising victory over glamour club Melbourne City, marking the team’s 10th win from 11 games.
“Around Christmas time we were questioning a few things, but we knew the ambition of the club was to get a few players and to get some key signings that we needed and credit to Kenny and the club they’ve made a big difference” said Covic who turns 41 in June.
A win this weekend against the struggling Sky Blues will help Glory earn a home elimination final and finish as high as third on the ladder, pending other results.
“We’re in a positon now where I think a lot of teams will dread coming up against us” Covic said.
“We’ve had to play all the top teams and the one we lost against the Wanderers (RD 21) I think we were very unlucky not to get at least a point if not three. We had our chances there, so we’re capable of beating anyone “he said.
Covic backed up his claims, pointing to the team’s dominant display against Melbourne City where the Western Australians prevailed 3-2.
Glory had been leading City 3-0 at the 70th minute, which included Andy Keogh’s eighth consecutive goal (marking a new league record) and a goal of the year contender by Spanish whiz Diego Castro.
“For 75 minutes we nullified their attack force who have been very dangerous, the only disappointing thing is that we took the foot off the pedal and gave them a score line that was respectable for them” he said.
As far as Sunday’s match against Sydney, the veteran goalkeeper warned that Graham Arnold’s men posed a strong threat to upset Glory’s plans.
“They’re still dangerous, things haven’t gone well their way, they’ve got ACL (Asian Champions League) they don’t want to end the season on a low note. So we’ve got to be wary and we got to be on top of our game and not to expect to go and get the three points.”
“If we start getting into the mentality that “they’re gonna be tired” or “they haven’t got nothing to play for in the A League” we can do our selves a disfavour so we’ve got to approach it like we did on the weekend. Our position on the table isn’t set, we can finish higher if we do the right job” he stressed.
Covic praised the efforts of his defence describing it as a well-balanced backline and said the carrot for him and his teammates was to keep on winning
“Hopefully we’ve got another four games” he said.
Glory will face off against the Sky Blues at 3pm WST at Allianz Stadium.
The match will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 505 and ABC Grandstand.
