Perth Glory women will face its biggest test this season when John Gibson’s side travels to Wollongong for the Round 6 Westfield W-League clash with Sydney FC on Saturday.
Perth Glory will face its biggest test this season when John Gibson-s side travels to Wollongong for the Round 6 Westfield W-League clash with Sydney FC on Saturday.
The past three matches for Perth have all shown solid performances with two wins and a heartbreaking injury-time loss to Brisbane when the game was destined to end in a draw.
However, the last time on the park for reigning Westfield W-League Champions Sydney FC saw Newcastle Jets spring one of the surprises of the season with a shock 2-1 victory, before the Sky Blues enjoyed the bye last weekend.
Perth assistant coach Shaun Murphy says there is no better time to take on Sydney.
“After losing 5-2 away to Sydney last season, I think they way we-ve been going shows a lot of promise,” he said.
“This season we-ve been really strong defensively and I think the acquisition of Tine (Cederkvist) and Alexandra (Nilsson) has boosted our defensive stocks and Tine is a class above as a goalkeeper.
“This match is going to be tough, there-s no doubt about it as they will want to come out firing after their loss to Newcastle.
“It-s important we grab a result though because next week we will be away to Melbourne, but if we play the way we have been I-ve got no doubt we can stay within the top four.”
It-s not all good news for the Glory though, with striker Lara Filocamo rolling her ankle in the team-s final training session before they fly out to New South Wales.
The freak accident occurred as Filocamo was running by herself and the shock injury put a dampener on what was a strong hit-out for the Glory.
Her spot in the squad will be taken by Sadie Lawrence, who returns to the team after missing the cut for the Newcastle victory last weekend.
Kick-off at WIN Stadium will be at 3pm local time.
Perth Glory squad: 1. Tine CEDERKVIST (gk), 2. Stacey LEARMONT, 3. Carys HAWKINS, 4. Samantha KERR, 5. Shannon MAY, 6. Alexandra SINGER, 7. Alexandra NILSSON, 8. Tanya OXTOBY (c), 12. Kate GILL, 13. Elisa D-OVIDIO, 14. Collette McCALLUM, 15. Jaymee GIBBONS, 16. Sadie LAWRENCE, 17. Marianna TABAIN, 20. Kathleen WAYCOTT (gk)
In: Sadie LAWRENCE (promoted)
Out: Lara FILOCAMO (ankle – indefinite)
Unavailable: Nil
