Perth Glory Women will be out to seal a home final to reward the club’s loyal fans when they take on Newcastle Jets at Ashfield Sports Clubs on Saturday.
Last weekend’s 3-1 win away to Melbourne Victory secured Glory’s place in the Westfield W-League finals for just the second time in the club’s history but striker Kate Gill says the team is hungry for more.
“There’s a little bit of relief because there’s that security of knowing we’re in the finals,” Gill said.
“But we still have to keep our mind on the job because we want to finish up top so we can have a home semi-final.”
“To go undefeated at home would be great. It’s always pleasing to play at home and we’ve had such great crowds at Ashfield that we never want to disappoint them,” she said.
Glory won their first six games of the season, including home successes against Brisbane Roar (2-1), Adelaide United (3-1), Canberra United (3-0) and Sydney FC (1-0).
An away defeat to Adelaide is the only blemish on the season so far and Glory will go into Round Nine with a seven-point lead over second-placed Sydney FC.
If third-placed Canberra, who are eight points behind Glory, fail to get maximum points against Sydney on Sunday and Glory beat the Jets, a home final will be guaranteed.
Gill is confident that making the finals so soon will not be a cue for the team to take their foot off the accelerator, especially given coach Jamie Harnwell’s determination to push all the way.
“I think the quality within the team won’t allow us to and Jamie will make sure that doesn’t happen,” said Gill.
The star striker admits she’s surprised at how quickly the team has established such a dominant lead.
“I wouldn’t have picked it but I guess our performances have spoken for themselves. We had a little bit of a lapse against Adelaide and that might’ve been a blessing in disguise.”
Kick-off to this weekend’s game agaisnt the Jets is at 3pm.
