Frustrated Perth coach Ian Ferguson has forecast further changes to his ailing side after they crashed to a seventh straight defeat on Saturday night, thrashed 5-0 by Central Coast at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Frustrated Perth coach Ian Ferguson has forecast further changes to his ailing side after they crashed to a seventh straight defeat on Saturday night, thrashed 5-0 by Central Coast at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Four second half goals sunk Glory without trace and handed the Mariners the biggest win in their history.
Ferguson made five changes to his team for the visit to Sydney and is likely to tinker further with his line-up for Wellington’s visit to nib Stadium next Sunday.
“Tonight’s performance and goals conceded was unacceptable,” he declared.
“It was embarrassing at times.”
“At times we did look one-paced. The Mariners did look a lot sharper and brighter.”
“The time has come for changes. I’ve persevered and stuck by a lot of players and now I need to get some young blood in there.”
“We’ll try and spice things up.”
The Glory looked up for a fight in the early stages as both teams felt each other out in the second of the double headers at the SFS.
Perth could have opened the scoring on 33 minutes but Robbie Fowler dragged his shot wide after a nice cut-back pass from Todd Howarth.
Instead it was Royston Griffiths, taking advantage of some slack defending, who headed the Mariners into the lead four minutes later.
The goals flowed after the half-time interval; Matt Simon (60th minute), Adam Kwasnik (77th) and Matthew Lewis (86th) adding their names to the score sheet before Naum Sekulovski completed a miserable night for Glory by turning the ball into his own net with a minute left.
Ferguson has clearly run out of patience, his side now winless since September 5.
“That’s seven defeats in a row and that’s not good enough,” he said.
“I’m not a quitter and I want my team to be the same – I don-t want them to be quitters.”
“We’ve got to stand up and be counted.”
“It’s a proud club with a huge tradition and to be beaten seven in a row is just unacceptable.”
The coach admits it’s as much a battle of the mind as the body after such a long run of outs
“Confidence is an issue. You can see that with the players,” he said.
“When results are going poorly and there are some poor performances, heads tend to go down.”
“Hopefully I can get them back on the training paddock and get them going again.”
“There is no magic formula.”
