Perth Glory players have a clear understanding of what is needed to make their goal of a finals berth a reality this season and have the mental toughness to achieve it according to skipper Jamie Coyne.
Perth Glory players have a clear understanding of what is needed to make their goal of a finals berth a reality this season and have the mental toughness to achieve it according to skipper Jamie Coyne.
The competition has seen an avalanche of goals late in matches and Glory have enjoyed their share of the spoils but also been on the wrong side of the ledger on several occasions.
A wonderful second half performance that included a Nikita Rukavytsya double saw the Glory claw their way back from a goal down to take the lead last weekend against Central Coast but the side was left in despair as Mariners striker Sasho Petrovski scored in the final seconds to take a share of the spoils.
“It-s a game we should have had won… it-s really heartbreaking,” Coyne said at the club-s Monday training session.
Glory conceded in the final minutes against Newcastle in round two and saw two goals gifted to Queensland in injury time of the first half a fortnight ago.
Perth is a significantly better team now than the one which leaked goals earlier this season and have dominated large parts of matches recently but haven-t been rewarded for their efforts.
“We-re playing well at the moment but we-re just not getting the wins and it is disappointing for us as players and also for the fans,” Coyne said.
“Our performances at home in particular have been great but we haven-t been able to get that final piece of the puzzle right as yet. We-re not far off and we-re all determined to put things right this weekend.”
Glory coach Dave Mitchell admitted he is considering using a sports psychologist to address the clubs fadeouts and Coyne said the playing group would be receptive to any help that could assist them over the line.
“You-ve got to explore every avenue,” Coyne said. “As an individual I don-t think I would need it but there might be other players that do need it or as a team it might not be a bad idea.
“If it was easy to pinpoint, you would fix it. We have copped a couple of late goals whether it be in the first half last week, in the last minute this week and then early in the season with the same thing.
“Maybe it-s just a bit of naivety in closing out the game the right way,” said Coyne.
Perth will line-up at home again this week and while the side hasn-t lost in their past five matches at Members Equity Stadium, Coyne acknowledges that all three points are needed against Melbourne to ensure their finals hopes remain alive.
“The reality of it is we need to win this week,” he said.
“Melbourne is going to be a tough game but we need to get three points at home to keep us in touch with the top four.
“We played well against Central Coast last week so there-s no reason why we can-t do the same against Melbourne and get a win on Saturday night.”
