PGFC Academy Head Coach Richard Garcia is expecting to see a positive reaction from his side in Saturday’s NPL WA clash with old foes Perth SC at Dorrien Gardens (kick-off at 3pm).
The youngsters suffered their heaviest defeat of the campaign last time out, going down 5-1 to Sorrento FC in the annual Regional Festival of Football fixture played at Albany’s Centennial Stadium.
But after a solid week on the training ground, Garcia is backing his charges to bounce back.
“We were disappointed by what happened in Albany,” he said.
“The boys had a hard week, but now it’s about trying to get over their fatigue and work on doing the basic things well when they’re tired.
“The boys have the bit between their teeth; they’ve trained well and are looking forward to taking on Perth.
“We said to them straight after the [Sorrento] game that the good thing about football is that there’s another game coming next week where you can react and make things right.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the lads do that this week.”
Garcia went on to stress that improving the players’ consistency of performance is one of his key coaching objectives.
“At this stage in their careers, it’s all about consistency,” he said, “and even at the top end of the game, the best players are those who are able to perform consistently week-in, week-out.
“So along with helping them to learn the game and grow as people, we’re trying to make them more consistent within their game.
“They can all produce one good performance, but can they do that every week?
“Because that’s what they need to do if they’re going to get to the next level of football.”
The Sorrento result left Glory sitting in ninth place on the NPL WA ladder, two points ahead of Saturday’s opponents Perth SC who drew 1-1 against high-flying Gwelup Croatia in their most recent outing.
And Garcia is expecting a good battle with a side that has traditionally been such a powerful force in WA football.
“I think it’s going to be a tough game,” he said.
“It’s always good to come up against Perth and it’s normally a tightly-fought game.
“So it’ll be another great challenge for our young group and one that we’re all really looking forward to.”
Ahead of the First Team match, the Under-18s will be in action at 11am, followed by the Under-21s at 1pm.
#OneGlory
