Richard Garcia and his Glory charges are relishing the challenge of locking horns with A-League leaders Melbourne City at HBF Park on Wednesday evening (kick-off at 7.20pm WST).
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City will head West brimming with confidence having lost just once in their last 12 outings and scored 42 goals in 18 games this term.
But having seen his side dominate for long periods against Macarthur FC last time out and also keep their first clean sheet of the campaign, Glory’s Head Coach is looking forward to taking another step forward at City’s expense.
“I was very happy with the second-half response and we did everything except score [on Saturday],” he said.
“It was disappointing not to take advantage of that good play, but as I said to the boys after the game, the effort and desire that I saw in the second half is something we need to replicate over and over again.
“If we keep playing like that, eventually, we’ll score goals.
“It was fantastic to get that first clean sheet of the season which is something that we’ve been trying to work on.
“It was good that we had a week’s preparation last week to work on those things and I think it showed with the resilience and effort we made defensively.
“They [Melbourne City] obviously have a lot of weapons going forward and have a very experienced side.
“They’ve got a good mix of youth and experience and it’s going to be a tough challenge, but the boys are feeling good about the second half performance at the weekend and are looking to build off that.”
The WA Government COVID-19 restrictions currently in place mean that Members and fans will unfortunately not be able to attend Wednesday night’s game and Garcia admitted that their support will be sorely missed.
“I don’t think you ever get used to it [playing behind closed doors]; you accept it and move on,” he said.
“It’s disappointing and we’d love to have our supporters there, but the focus is on building upon the performances we’ve had and making sure we’re going in the right direction.”
In terms of early team news, the Head Coach hinted that attacking duo Nick D’Agostino and Daniel Stynes may be ready to complete their return from respective hamstring and groin injuries.
“We’d like to keep a consistent team,” he said, “but the game is coming around on Wednesday three days after [the last game] and there are going to be players that might not pull up so well from Saturday.
“We’ll see how they go and we’ve still got to be very mindful of the way the bodies are pulling up.
“Players just want to play and not train, but preparation is always good when you get time for that.
“It’s going to be very interesting these next few weeks with the schedule being Wednesday, Sunday, but we’re all looking forward to the challenge.
“Stynes and D’Agostino are getting closer.
“They’ve been training with the group, which is fantastic… and it’ll be great to have them back.”
Glory will be out to maintain an impressive home record against City which has seen them lose just three of the 15 previous A-League clashes between the two sides in WA.
And while Patrick Kisnorbo’s men have picked up seven wins and suffered only one defeat at home this term, their away record reads won four, lost four and drawn two.
Match Details
Perth Glory v Melbourne City FC
HBF Park, Perth
Kick-Off: 7:20pm (Local)(9:20pm (AEST))
Referee: Adam Fielding
Assistant Referee 1: Josh Mannella
Assistant Referee 2: Matthew Southern
Fourth Official: Shane Skinner
VAR: Kris Griffiths-Jones
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS 505 from 9:15pm (AEST), Sky Sport 7 (New Zealand), Kayo Sports (www.kayosports.com.au) and MyFootball Live App, Live Fast and Data Free for Telstra mobile customers
Radio Broadcast: myfootballnation.com (SEN WA, SEN Peel, SEN Track Perth, SEN Spirit, SEN App)
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #PERvMCY
Perth Glory squad: 1.Tando VELAPHI (gk), 2.Jason GERIA, 5.Jonathan ASPROPOTAMITIS, 6.Osama MALIK, 7.Chris IKONOMIDIS, 8.Kosuke OTA, 9.Bruno FORNAROLI, 10.Andy KEOGH, 11.Joel CHIANESE, 13.Luke BODNAR, 15.Brandon WILSON, 17.Diego CASTRO, 18.Nick D’AGOSTINO, 20.Carlo ARMIENTO, 23.Dane INGHAM, 24.Daniel STYNES, 29.Darryl LACHMAN, 33.Liam REDDY (gk), 38.Ciaran BRAMWELL, 88.Neil KILKENNY
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 18.Nick D’AGOSTINO (returns from injury), 24.Daniel STYNES (returns from injury)
Outs: None
Unavailable: 4.Sebastian LANGKAMP (groin 2-4 weeks)
Melbourne City FC squad: 1.Tom GLOVER (gk), 2.Scott GALLOWAY, 3.Scott JAMIESON (c), 4.Nuno REIS, 5.Daniel GEORGIEVSKI, 7.Rostyn GRIFFITHS, 8.Aiden O’NEILL, 9.Jamie MACLAREN, 10.Florin BERENGUER-BOHRER, 11.Craig NOONE, 14.Naoki TSUBAKI, 15.Andrew NABBOUT, 17.Stefan COLAKOVSKI, 18.Connor METCALFE, 19.Ben GARUCCIO, 20.Adrian LUNA, 22.Curtis GOOD, 23.Marco TILIO, 33.Matthew SUTTON (gk), 43.Alec MILLS
**2-4 to be omitted**
In: 4.Nuno REIS (returns from injury), 5.Daniel GEORGIEVSKI (promoted)
Out: Nil
Unavailable: 13.Nathaniel ATKINSON (hamstring)
#OneGlory
