Glory Head Coach Kenny Lowe was in buoyant mood when he fronted the media ahead of Glory’s Hyundai A-League 2017/18 season-opener against Western Sydney Wanderers on Sunday.
With the long off-season finally drawing to a close, the squad looked bright and lively in what was their final full training session before the clash at Spotless Stadium.
And Lowe cannot wait for hostilities to resume.
“Everyone’s ready,” he said. “It’s the longest pre-season in the world, we all know that, so we’re really looking forward to getting back into it..
“In terms of our plan for the season, it’s a case of looking to score more goals, concede less, earn more points and finish higher up the table. It’s as simple as that.
“We’re always going to score goals and as long we keep doing that, we’ll be ok.
“And defensively, we’ve got Alex Grant back this year and Shane Lowry as well, which is great.
“We didn’t have a settled back seven last year, with Liam [Reddy] pretty much the only one who was a regular in there.
“But those are things that you have to cope with and we did that well last year, which is why we ended up one game away from the Grand Final.”
Andy Keogh, meanwhile, was also asked for his thoughts on the campaign to come and the club’s new skipper was similarly optimistic.
“It’s a ten-team competition,” he said, “so you have to aim to win it and anything else is not setting high enough standards.
“We’ve got plenty of firepower and a lot of quality in the squad with players that have played in La Liga and the English Premier League and Championship.”
Sunday will mark Glory’s first Hyundai A-League visit to Spotless Stadium, Wanderers’ temporary home while Pirtek Stadium is being rebuilt and Lowe’s side will be aiming to build on a three-match unbeaten run against the red-and-blacks dating back to February 2016.
Match Details:
Sunday, 8 October 2017
Western Sydney Wanderers FC v Perth Glory
Spotless Stadium
Kick-Off: 6:00 PM (Local) (3:00 PM WST)
Referee: Daniel Elder
Assistant Referee 1: Andrej Giev
Assistant Referee 2: James Tesoriero
Fourth Official: Stephen Lucas
Video Assistant Referee: Strebre Delovski
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS 501 from 5.30pm (AEDT) and Sky Sport X (New Zealand)
Radio Broadcast: myfootballnation.com, 6PR, ABC Radio Sydney, ABC Radio NSW, ABC Radio Perth, ABC Radio WA, Grandstand Digital, Online & via the ABC Listen App – A-league Live.
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #WSWvPER
To purchase tickets please visit www.a-league.com.au/tickets
Western Sydney Wanderers FC squad: 3.Jack CLISBY, 5.Brendan HAMILL, 6.Jacob MELLING, 7.Steven LUSTICA, 8.Roly BONEVACIA, 9.Oriol RIERA, 10.Àlvaro CEJUDO, 11.Brendon SANTALAB, 14.Jumpei KUSUKAMI, 15.Kearyn BACCUS, 16.Jaushua SOTIRIO, 18.Robert CORNTHWAITE (c), 19.Mark BRIDGE, 20.Vedran JANJETOVIC (gk), 24.Raúl LLORENTE, 25.Chris HERD, 30.John HALL (gk), 33.Michael THWAITE
**two to be omitted**
Unavailable: 1.Jerrad TYSON (shoulder – indefinite), 4.Josh RISDON (international duty – 1 week), 21.Marc TOKICH (international duty – 1 week)
Perth Glory squad: 2.Alex GRANT, 3.Marc WARREN, 4.Shane LOWRY, 5.Jacob POSCOLIERO, 7.Joel CHIANESE, 8.Xavi TORRES, 9. Andy KEOGH (c), 13 Nick FEELY (GK), 14.Chris HAROLD, 15.Brandon WILSON, 16.Joseph MILLS, 17.Diego CASTRO, 18.Andreu GUERAO, 19.Joe KNOWLES, 20.Jake BRIMMER, 22.Adam TAGGART, 23.Scott NEVILLE, 33.Liam REDDY (GK)
**one to be omitted**
Unavailable: 6.Mitch NICHOLS (suspended – 3 weeks), 25.Daniel STYNES (hamstring 9-12 weeks)
#CREATEDESTINY
