New recruits Celia and Crystal Thomas are poised to make their Glory debuts in Saturday evening’s Westfield W-League Round 4 clash with Newcastle Jets at Dorrien Gardens (kick-off at 7.15pm, tickets HERE).
The Spanish international and American striker have both trained strongly this week and Head Coach Bobby Despotovski has confirmed that both will play some part as Glory look to secure their first win of the campaign.
“They will bring experience and stability to our midfield and attack,” he said.
“We have to be mindful that one arrived last week and one this week and consider that when it comes to how many minutes they will play, but they will be involved.
“And our other two imports, Ari [Romero] and Morgan [Andrews] will also be better for the game-time that they got under their belts last weekend against Sydney FC.
“Morgan played a pivotal role in the team and lasted 60-something minutes which was a credit to her and hopefully this week she can last the full 90.”
Glory conceded two early goals in that 3-1 defeat against the Sky Blues, having done likewise in their Round 1 reverse at Canberra and Despotovski confirmed that starting games more strongly has been a focus in training this week.
“We have to take the game from the first minute, not from 2-0 down,” he said.
“They [the players] are conscious of that and have been working very hard in training to try and rectify how we are starting games.
“We’ve looked at many aspects, such as whether our warm-up is wrong, is there too much of a gap between the end of the warm-up and the start of the game, or is our mental state wrong.
“The way that we are finishing games is very positive because they are lasting the 90 minutes.
“Now we have to look at the starts to make sure we’re not so sluggish for the first 15 or 20 minutes before getting into game.”
Glory’s Head Coach went on to praise the impact Hana Lowry and Ayesha Norrie made when they were introduced from the bench last weekend and admitted that their performances have given him plenty to consider when it comes to naming his side to face the Jets.
“Hana is very young and we need to be careful with her development,” he said.
“Nonetheless, she is an extraordinarily talented footballer and in time, I think she can be one of the best players in Australia.
“This is the exercise that we’re doing right now; giving the young players a chance to step up and see where they need to be development-wise, skill-wise, fitness-wise and strength-wise to make it at that next level.
“I’m very pleased with how she’s tracking and the same goes for Ayesha.
“She’s come over from Queensland and has taken every opportunity to step up and play.
“Her last two appearances off the bench have been very, very good and very positive.”
Despotovski also that he feels his charges are well capable of taking the positives from their second-half showing against Sydney FC and building upon them this weekend.
“With the inexperience that we have in our team, I’m very pleased with how they performed in the second half,” he said.
“Now they have to start from the first minute and we’re working towards that.”
The historical omens are encouraging for Glory, with the WA side having lost just one of their last seven meetings with the Jets and there could also fireworks in store at Dorrien Gardens given that the last three games between the two teams have yielded a total of 14 goals.
Newcastle come into the game still looking for their first win of the 2019/20 season, having drawn with Melbourne City in Round One before losing to both Western Sydney Wanderers and most recently, Canberra United.
Match Details
Saturday, 7 December 2019
Perth Glory v Newcastle Jets
Dorrien Gardens, Perth
Kick-Off: 7:15pm (Local)( 10:15pm (AEDT))
Referee: Lara Lee
Assistant Referee 1: Josh Mannella
Assistant Referee 2: Adrien Liechti
Fourth Official: Shane Skinner
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #PERvNEW
Perth Glory Squad: 1.Eliza CAMPBELL (gk), 3.Kim CARROLL, 4.Ayesha NORRIE, 5.Shannon MAY, 6.Arianna ROMERO, 7.CELIA, 8.Morgan ANDREWS, 9.Crystal THOMAS, 10.Julia SARDO, 11.Leticia MCKENNA, 12.Jenna ONIONS, 14.Caitlin DOEGLAS, 15.Alexia MORENO, 19.Hana LOWRY, 21.Morgan AQUINO (gk), 24.Natasha RIGBY (c), 28.Katarina JUKIC
**two to be omitted**
Ins: 7.CELIA (new signing), 9.Crystal THOMAS (returns from injury)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: Nil
Newcastle Jets squad: 2.Hannah BREWER, 6.Cassidy DAVIS, 7.Gema SIMON, 9.Tara ANDREWS, 10.Libby COPUS-BROWN, 11.Pana PETRATOS, 12.Tessa TAMPLIN, 13.Lauren ALLAN, 14.Renee POUNTNEY, 17.Jenna KINGSLEY, 18.Clare WHEELER, 19.Nicki FLANNERY, 20.Claire COELHO (gk), 25.Teigan COLLISTER, 30.Nicole SIMONSEN (gk), 31.Paige KINGSTON-HOGG
**one to be omitted**
Ins: 15.Renee POUNTNEY (return from injury)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 4.Annabel MARTIN (knee – 1-2 weeks), 8.Sophie NENADOVIC (ankle – 4-6 weeks)
#OneGlory
