Liam Reddy and his Glory teammates are relishing the prospect of facing Hyundai A-League new boys Western United on Saturday.
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The men in purple will be out to spoil the party at what is United’s first competitive home game at GMHBA Stadium in Geelong by adding three points to the one they secured courtesy of last weekend’s draw with Brisbane Roar.
But the experienced ‘keeper is expecting Mark Rudan’s side to provide a stern test.
“We’re excited,” he said.
“Obviously it’s going to be a big game; it’s their first home game.
“They’re a new team and a new club and we’re looking forward to the trip.
“They did really well last week [winning away at Wellington]. Wellington is a tough place to go and get three points.
“They have a very experienced team and are hard to break down and with [Besart] Berisha, Scottie McDonald and [Alessandro] Diamanti up front, they look very dangerous.
“We are going to have to be at our best again and it’ll be a good battle for us.”
Reddy went on to echo Head Coach Tony Popovic’s sentiments regarding the take-outs from the opening-day clash with Brisbane.
“We were disappointed to concede late on,” he said, “but that’s in the past now and we move on and focus on this week.
“There were a lot of positives to come out of the game.
“When you look at it, it was a totally different back five from the Grand Final and they did extremely well and will continue to get better.
“I think our first 25 or 30 minutes was some of the best football that I’ve seen played in my time here at Perth Glory.”
Looking ahead, the man who is closing in on 300 Hyundai A-League appearances sees no reason why Glory cannot repeat last season’s stunning success.
“We’ve set ourselves high goals,” he said, “but again it’s a week-to-week proposition.
“We got a point last weekend and now we’re going over to Melbourne to get the job done there.
“Melbourne is a good away trip for us in the sense that there is always a lot of away support for us there and hopefully they can get out again on Saturday.”
Match Details
Saturday, 19 October 2019
Western United FC v Perth Glory
GMHBA Stadium, Geelong
Kick-Off: 2:00pm (WST) (5:00pm (Local)
Referee: Alireza Faghani
Assistant Referee 1: Matthew Cream
Assistant Referee 2: Andrew Meimarakis
Fourth Official: Alex King
VAR: Kris Griffiths-Jones
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS 505 from 4:30pm (AEDT), ABC TV from 5:00pm (AEDT), 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 (1116SEN, SEN+, SEN2, SEN3 and SEN SA, 6PR).
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #WUNvPER
To purchase tickets visit www.a-league.com.au/tickets
Western United FC squad: 1.Filip KURTO (gk), 2.Aaron CALVER, 3.Brendan HAMILL, 4.Andrew DURANTE, 5.Dylan PIERIAS, 6.Connor CHAPMAN, 8.Panagiotis KONE, 10.Scott McDONALD, 11.Connor PAIN, 12.Dario JERTEC, 13.Ivan VUJICA, 14.Max BURGESS, 15.Jonathan ASPROPOTAMITIS, 17.Joshua CAVALLO, 18.Besart BERISHA, 19.Joshua RISDON, 20.James DELIANOV (gk), 22.Ersan GULUM, 23.Alessandro DIAMANTI (c), 26.Kwabena Appiah-Kubi
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 2.Aaron CALVER (promoted), 3.Brendan HAMILL (promoted)
Outs: nil
Unavailable: 7.Valentino Yuel (ankle – 6 weeks), 9.Apostolos STAMATELOPOULOS (calf – 3 weeks) 25.Luke DUZEL (International Duty)
Perth Glory squad: 1.Tando VELAPHI (gk), 2.Alex GRANT, 3.Jacob TRATT, 4.Gregory WUTHRICH, 5.Ivan FRANJIC, 6.Dino DJULBIC, 7.Joel CHIANESE, 9.Bruno FORNAROLI, 12.Kim SOO-BEOM 13.Osama MALIK, 14.Chris HAROLD, 15.Brandon WILSON, 16.Tomislav MRCELA, 17.Diego CASTRO (c), 19.Chris IKONOMIDIS, 27.JUANDE, 28.Gabriel POPOVIC, 29.Kristian POPOVIC, 33.Liam REDDY (gk), 88.Neil KILKENNY
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 5.Ivan FRANJIC (returns from suspension), 14.Chris HAROLD (promoted), 16.Tomislav MRCELA (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: Nil
#OneGlory
