Kenny Lowe has called on his big guns to “step up” and exert their authority and influence come Sunday’s blockbuster elimination final against Melbourne City.
Glory travel to AAMI Park as underdogs as it aims for its maiden Hyundai A-League championship.
“The big thing will be your big players, which players are going to stand up?” he said.
“Their big players or our big players and that’s what it really comes down. Maybe a little bit of luck, a mistake and that’s what it comes down to really at the end of the day so throw that into the melting pot and you’ve got one hell of a game”.
But the big players for Glory are in limbo with marque Diego Castro finishing Friday’s training slightly tight while speedy winger Chris Harold did not finish the training session.
“Chris came out of the session. Diego was a little bit tight at the end there. So we just got to be careful. We’ve got another session tomorrow before we fly so we’ll leave it to the last minute so I think we’ve got 18 flying over there” Lowe said
Lowe said while Harold and Castro were important to the team they weren’t the quintessential elements.
“Any good player in any team is important. At the end of the day everyone wants the good players”.
But he rejected suggestion the team could not win without Castro
“No team is a one man team as much as much as he’s a good player” Lowe said
“We’ve won without him before we’ll win without him again, if he plays great if not what are the other ten going to do? Just roll home and not turn up. It’s not gonna happen is it?” he joked.
“He’s a good guy and he knows exactly what he’s doing and how he feels and he wants to play in a final and he wants to win something just like the other 20 odd players in the squad.
“My gut feeling is he’ll do what’s right. He won’t push the envelope” said Glory’s head coach.
Lowe said the team had come together in a closer way this week and were determined to get the desired result.
“They’re looking forward to it you can see it, you can see their demeanour, you can see it in the change rooms you can see it on the training ground. They’re really looking forward to the game and we’ve got respect for the other side we’re gonna play, massive respect cause they’re a really really good side but you know we’ve got a quiet confidence about ourselves that we believe maybe we can go over there and do it.
Kick-off is at 3pm WST 9 5PM EST) and the game will be broadcast on ABC Grandstand, Fox Sports 505 and SBS 2.
HYUNDAI A-LEAGUE 2016 Elimination Final 2
Sunday, 17 April 2016
Melbourne City FC (4) v Perth Glory (5)
AAMI Park, Melbourne
Kick-Off: 5:00pm (Local) (5:00pm AEST)
Referee: Chris Beath
Assistant Referee 1: Nathan MacDonald
Assistant Referee 2: Allyson Flynn
Fourth Official: Luke Brennan
Additional Assistant Referee 1: Shaun Evans
Additional Assistant Referee 2: Strebre Delovski
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS 505 from 4.30pm (AEST), SBS TWO from 5:30pm AEST and Sky Sport 1 (New Zealand)
Radio Broadcast: Online & via the ABC Radio Mobile App – A-League Live. Crocmedia A-League Live (www.facebook.com/A-leagueLIVERadio)
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #MCYvPER #ALFinals
Melbourne City FC squad: 1.Thomas SORENSEN (GK), 2.Alex WILKINSON, 3.Aaron HUGHES, 4.Connor CHAPMAN, 5.Ivan FRANJIC, 8.Aaron MOOY, 14.James BROWN, 18.Paulo RETRE, 19.Ben GARUCCIO, 20.Dean BOUZANIS (GK), 22.Jack CLISBY, 23.Bruno FORNAROLI, 24.Patrick KISNORBO, 25.Jacob MELLING, 26.Marc MARINO, 27.Nick FITZGERALD, 29.Anthony CACERES, 33.Osama MALIK
**two to be omitted**
Ins: 3.Aaron HUGHES (promoted), 14.James BROWN (promoted), 19.Ben GARUCCIO (promoted)
Outs: 9.Harry NOVILLO (suspended – 2 weeks)
Unavailable: 7.Corey GAMEIRO (knee – season), 11.Michael ZULLO (foot – season), 17.Wade DEKKER (ankle – season)
Perth Glory squad: 1.Ante COVIC (gk), 2.Alex GRANT, 3.Marc WARREN, 4.Shane LOWRY, 6.Dino DJULBIC, 7.Gyorgy SANDOR, 9.Andy KEOGH, 10.Nebojsa MARINKOVIC, 11.Richard GARCIA, 12.Jerrad TYSON (gk), 14.Chris HAROLD, 17.Diego CASTRO, 18.Mitch OXBORROW, 19.Josh RISDON, 21.Kosta PETRATOS, 23.Krisztian VADOCZ, 24.Jamal REINERS, 29.Aryn WILLIAMS
**two to be omitted**
Ins: 14.Chris HAROLD ( returns from injury), 17.Diego CASTRO (returns from injury)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 8.Ruben ZADKOVICH (knee – indefinite)
