Perth Glory young gun Alex Grant is relishing the opportunity to play against the high flying Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium on Sunday.
The 22-year old defender scored a cracking header against Western Sydney last week which helped Glory level the scores at 1-1 inside five minutes.
It was Grant’s first goal for the season and the centre-back is hopeful of scoring more.
“Yeah, it’s always good to get one especially as a defender as well because you only get forward for corners and free kicks so yeah it’s good to get on the scoresheet.
“I should have probably had a few more last year to be honest with you! I got there quite a bit and had a few cleared off the line and what have you so I was a bit disappointed I only racked up one last year so hopefully there is more to come.”
With plenty of competition throughout the squad Grant’s first game coincided with the team’s Round 3 win over Melbourne City.
The young gun praised the amount of depth within the squad.
“If you look across the squad, we’ve got players who can play in several positions and there’s definitely depth within the squad, so we know that people can come in and fill in and do a job and hopefully that will get us a win at the weekend.”
Sydney is yet to lose a game this season but Grant is confident that the side can pick up points at Allianz Stadium.
“Any team in the A-League is beatable.”
“I think that’s the thing with Sydney at the moment, they’ve rocked up to all five games with the right mentality and that winning ethic, which it’s shown and that’s why they are sitting at the top of the table, so obviously we haven’t done that with every game and I think if people apply that in the game early, they can get the win.”
Teammate Milan Smiljanic, who made his starting debut at the weekend, and featured in the A-League’s team of the week, echoed Grant’s sentiments.
“It’s a very difficult game for us because Sydney are first in the Liga and have every win and we must go to fight here.
“I think its defence. Maybe one or two goal conceded only. This team very strong and have very, very good players like Ninkovic, like striker Bobo and for us it’s first time we face against these players and I think we go to get a good result.”
The former La Liga player has only been in Australia briefly but has been familiarising himself with his A-League opponents.
“This is a long season. We have 25, 26 games more and we must go to fight for every game but the next game is most important for us.”
While Sydney may have won the latest encounter against Perth (Round of 16 in the FFA Cup), Glory has won twice on the road at Allianz in the past two years which gives the team confidence heading into Sunday’s clash.
“I think you got to approach every game with a bit of confidence. Obviously, we’ll take something out of the Western Sydney game and look forward to this week now. We know their threats but we’re confident we can break them down, “Grant said.
The match kicks-off on Sunday at 2pm and will be shown live on Fox Sports and broadcast on ABC radio.
