Glory Head Coach Bobby Despotovski has called upon his side to match their stellar performance against Melbourne City when they tackle Adelaide United at the Marden Sports Complex on Thursday.
The women in purple stunned the reigning champions at nib Stadium a fortnight ago, Sam Kerr (2) Alyssa Mautz (2) and Rachel Hill sharing the goals in a swashbuckling, 5-2 victory.
And Despotovski insists that securing three points at the expense of the third-placed Reds will require a similarly high-quality display.
“Adelaide are a very solid team,” he said. “They are well-drilled and disciplined and we’ll need to play as well as we did against Melbourne City to get anything out of this game.
“We need to be very solid at the back and take our chances up front and I would expect our girls to rise to the occasion.”
Glory will head across the border having enjoyed a bye last weekend and Despotovski feels that, overall, the group has benefitted from the extra preparation time.
“Sometimes when you have a week off, it can be a little bit disruptive in terms of the momentum that you have built up,” he said.
“This was the second break we’ve had in four weeks, but hopefully it will be beneficial for us and we’ll be rested and sharp.
“At the end of the day, it it was good for us to be able to refresh the bodies.”
Ahead of the Round 6 clash, Despotovski’s side are sitting second on the ladder, five points behind leaders Melbourne Victory with a game in hand.
And the coach is satisfied with the way the season has gone so far.
“I’m happy with where we’re at after four games,” he said.
“If a point had been on offer before our first game away at Brisbane we would have taken it, especially as we were without Nikki (Stanton) and Sam (Kerr).
“Then Canberra is a tough trip with changing ‘planes and the time difference etc, so to come back with three goals in the last eight minutes was very positive for us.
“Since then we’ve had the two home wins and now we need to go into this Adelaide game confident, refreshed and ready to fire.”
Glory reserved one of their worst performances of the season for last year’s corresponding fixture, but prior to that 3-1 reverse, had secured four consecutive victories over the Reds, bagging 13 goals in the process.
In terms of injury news, meanwhile, neither Sarah Carroll nor Jacynta Galabadaarachchi are expected to feature in the clash which will be shown live on Fox Sports from 4.30pm (WST).
Match Details
Westfield W-League 2018/19 Season Round 6
Adelaide United v Perth Glory
Marden Sports Complex
Kick-off: 7.00pm (local) | 4.30pm (WST)
Referee: Katie Patterson
Assistant Referee 1: Isabella Blaess
Assistant Referee 2: Paula Orlandi
Fourth Official: Jack Robinson
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS 505 from 4.30pm (WST) and My Football Live App, Live Fast and Data Free for Telstra mobile customers
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash tag #ADLvPER
To purchase tickets visit www.w-league.com.au/tickets
Adelaide United squad: 1.Sarah WILLACY(gk), 2.Emily HODGSON, 3.Charlotte GRANT, 5.Gunnhildur JONSDOTTIR, 6.Georgia CAMPAGNALE, 7.Isabel HODGSON, 8.Emily CONDON, 9.Fanndis FRIDRIKSDOTTIR, 11.Laura JOHNS, 12.Veronica LATSKO, 15.Emma CHECKER (c), 16.Dylan HOLMES, 17.Kahlia HOGG, 20.Sian McLAREN (gk), 21.Lara KIRKBY, 22.Amber BROOKS, 23.Michelle HEYMAN
**two to be omitted**
Ins: 17.Kahlia HOGG (promoted), 21.Lara KIRKBY (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 18.Meleri MULLAN (knee), 10.Chelsie DAWBER (shin)
Perth Glory squad: 1.Eliza CAMPBELL (gk), 3.Kim CARROLL, 4.Alyssa MAUTZ, 5.Shannon MAY, 6.Abbey MEAKINS, 7.Nicole STANTON , 9.Rachel HILL, 11.Leticia MCKENNA , 12.Jenna ONIONS, 13.Jamie-Lee GALE , 14.Caitlin DOEGLAS, 19.Hana LOWRY, 20.Sam KERR (c), 22.Abbey GREEN, 23.Stacey CAVILL (gk), 24.Natasha RIGBY, 25.Katie NAUGHTON
**two to be omitted**
Ins: 6.Abbey MEAKINS (promoted), 19.Hana LOWRY (promoted), 22.Abbey GREEN (promoted), 23.Stacey CAVILL (gk) (promoted)
Outs: 18.Isabella FOLETTA (illness – 1 week), 21.Morgan AQUINO (gk) (hip injury – 4 weeks)
Unavailable: Nil
#OneGlory
Photo courtesy of Vision Inspired Photography
