The next hurdle for Perth Glory’s youngsters is the might of Floreat Athena at Litis Stadium in Round 2 of this weekend’s PS4 NPL WA competition.
Glory’s future stars were impressive in their opening round win at Armadale, with goals from Daniel Stynes and Kosta Petratos in their 2-1 win.
Defender Ollie Annis said the win at Armadale was well-deserved and has given them confidence.
“It was a great performance to start off the season, everyone was solid & worked together all over the park,” he said.
“We showed a lot of character to come back from 1-0 down and played some really nice football throughout the game.”
Annis said Saturday’s opponents have a strong squad, and have been a powerhouse in WA football for a number of years, but he and the rest of the squad are looking forward to the challenge.
“Floreat will be a massive test for us, to see where we are at. They are a great team who will more than likely challenge for the title,” he said.
“We just need to put in another good performance and try to get another fantastic result.
“We’ve been working hard all pre-season, and we’ve had a good week at training, so the results and performance are thoroughly deserved.”
Head Coach John Gibson said he was looking forward to his players continuing their good form, but insists there is still room for improvement.
“A good performance and a nice reward last week, consistency is a key message this weekend and we’ve demanding this with the group over the week,” he said.
“A positive last week was we created some very good chances, but we didn’t capitalize them, and you have to do that in this league.
“Credit to the players they have taken everything we spoken about on board and we move on to take on one of the biggest team in WA football on Saturday.”
Floreat have won the WA Premier League on four occasions, and the State League cup six times, and Gibson said it will be a huge challenge for his players, but one they are looking forward too.
“The players were rewarded last week for their good performance, and this week it’s another challenge for them against a very good Floreat side,” he said.
“It will be a very warm weekend and we will monitor the players before, during and after the game – health and safety is paramount to us.”
Meantime the !8s and 20s matches have been postponed to a later date.
MATCH DETAILS
Perth Glory v Floreat Athena
Saturday February 25
Ashfield Reserve
Entry is free to all Perth Glory members
