The PGFC Academy First Team will be hitting the road in a major way this weekend as they head to Kalgoorlie to take on Sorrento.
Continuing a tradition that started last season, the NPL WA fixture has been switched to Ray Finlayson Oval in the Goldfields town as part of Football West’s efforts to promote the game in regional WA.
And Glory Head Coach John Gibson is looking forward to what promises to be every bit as memorable an event as last year’s corresponding one held in Geraldton.
“We’ll be up early on Friday morning to catch the bus to Kalgoorlie,” he said. “We’ll get there just after lunch and then there’s an open training session that the public can come along to. There’ll be posters and giveaways and so on, like there were when we went to Geraldton, which should be a lot of fun.
“There’s a youth festival there as well, so a few of the boys will do their first promo on their own which will be exciting. Then obviously the game is the next day at Ray Finlayson Oval at 5pm and we’ll be playing for a trophy which was introduced last year as part of this game against Sorrento being taken out to regional WA.
“It’ll be a great experience for everyone and a real opportunity for some culture and team-building.”
Fifth-placed Glory head into the game looking to bounce back from last weekend’s defeat at the hands of ladder leaders Bayswater City, but Gibson is expecting a tough test against a Sorrento side currently sitting in sixth spot.
“I watched Sorrento last week, so we have a pretty good idea of what they’ll try to do and we know they will provide us with another big challenge,” he said.
“But as always, we’ll focus upon oursleves and our processes and details. We’ve worked on a few things that Bayswater did to us last weekend and hopefully we can improve in those areas. We’ll go out there and work hard, look to keep a clean sheet and put on a really good performance.”
The Academy side have lost only two of their opening seven games this term and Gibson has been generally satisfied with the way his young charges have acquitted themselves thus far.
“The season seems to go very quickly and we’re almost a third of the way through already,” he reflected. “We’ve still got a lot of work to do, but it’s been a pleasing start. Our objective is still to maintain our status in this competition and avoid relegation. Historically we’ve been down the bottom end of the ladder, so we’re looking for a strong performance this week to keep us up towards the other end. If we can produce that performance, it’ll make the long trip back a much happier one.”
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(Picture courtesy of Fotoenzo)
