Perth Glory coach Ian Ferguson has urged his side to be more ruthless as they prepare for two gruelling away matches against Sydney and Wellington over the next five days.
Perth Glory coach Ian Ferguson has urged his side to be more ruthless as they prepare for two gruelling away matches against Sydney and Wellington over the next five days.
The Glory travel to Campbelltown Stadium for a Wednesday night clash (4.30pm Perth time) with Sydney FC before heading over the Tasman to take on Wellington Phoenix at Westpac Stadium on Saturday (kick-off at noon).
It’s one of the toughest road trips Perth’s done in several seasons, but coming off a solid 2-0 victory over Gold Coast last Saturday night, Ferguson is confident his side will take it up to both teams, especially a Sky Blues side brimming with confidence after beating Brisbane Roar.
Perth only played Sydney on November 12 in a 1-0 loss at nib Stadium, but having seen his side completely monster Vitezslav Lavicka’s men that night, creating eight clear-cut shots at goal in a dominant second half, it’s no wonder the word ‘ruthless’ has popped up in Ferguson’s vocabulary.
“When chances come, we have to take them,” Ferguson declared on Tuesday morning before the squad left Perth.
“They’ve obviously got the upper hand in results over the last few games,” he added, referring to Sydney winning the last five matches between the teams.
“But the last game for us was a real positive as in how we played and how we created chances. Unfortunately for us we didn’t get the result so that’s why I say in future games now we have to be ruthless in what we do and make sure when these opportunities come, early or they come late on, we’ve got to take these chances.”
“That’ll bring confidence through the whole lot of the boys whether were travelling, whether we’re at home, if we can take those chances early, confidence gets high.”
Once the final whistle goes in the Wellington game, Glory will have played seven of their first 11 fixtures away from home.
But despite acknowledging it’s been a tough run, Ferguson felt that complaining about the draw simply allowed the side to have excuses for poor performances.
“There’s no point moaning about it, we’ve got to get on with it,” Ferguson said.
“We can’t keep using excuses all the time, we’ve got to make sure we go out there and play.”
“Its 11 v 11 and it’s the same type of thing we play on every week, which is grass, and there’s crowds there, so we’ll try and make it the best, that we go out there and try and eliminate all the negatives and make sure that we’re going to be a team that’s going to try and pick up points away from home.”
“The good thing is, if we can hang in as best we can and get as much points as we can and then look for that great run home then that could be a big bonus for us.”
Perth have taken an 18-man squad over for the road trip, with Ferguson saying striker Billy Mehmet hadn’t suffered any ill-effects from a knock to his knee last Saturday night, although young defender Josh Risdon will stay in Perth after needing stitches in his head following a clash during a National Youth League game.
