They may be languishing in an unfamiliar position on the ladder, but PGFC Academy Technical Director Steven McGarry is still expecting Bayswater City to provide Glory with a stern test in Saturday’s NPL WA clash at Frank Drago Reserve (kick-off at 3pm).
While Glory’s impressive 3-1 win over ECU Joondalup saw them climb to third, City are currently in tenth spot having won only one of their four fixtures thus far this term.
McGarry, however, believes that the Glory youngsters will have to continue their improvement if they are to get the better of Chris Coyne’s men.
“I think Bayswater will provide a different kind of challenge [from ECU],” he said, “because they’re a little bit more experienced and a bit of a wounded animal at the moment.
“Traditionally they’re a big club and Coyney has done an unbelievable job there in terms of winning Championships and is a top coach.
“So he’ll have them well up for it and I’m expecting a different kind of Bayswater to what we’ve seen previously as they don’t lose too many games and they certainly don’t lose too many on the bounce.”
But while aware of the threat posed by the home team, McGarry feels that Glory will head into the game in buoyed by their performance against ECU.
“To echo Richie’s [First Team Head Coach Richard Garcia] message earlier in the week,” he said, “the manner in which all three teams played last weekend was excellent.
“There were some great moments, exciting football and the First Team could have won by four or five.
“So there was a lot of confidence and momentum to take into what will be another tough game on Saturday.”
The former Glory midfielder went on to urge as many of the club’s Members and fans as possible to attend the Bayswater clash and get behind the youngsters.
“I love going to Bayswater,” he said.
“We’re always made to feel very welcome there and it would be great to see some of our Glory members and fans heading along to the game.
“It was brilliant to see them turn out in numbers at the ECU game last week.
“As the games have progressed over the course of the season, we’ve seen more and more coming to support us and on Saturday they made a lot of noise with the drums and so on and the players loved it and responded it.
“Hopefully if they can come down to Frank Drago Reserve, the lads will respond again.”
Ahead of the First Team game which gets underway at 3pm, the Under-18s are in action at 11am, followed by the Under-20s at 1pm and if you can’t make it to the game in person, the Under-20s and First Team fixtures will both be streamed live on the Football West Facebook page.
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