The PGFC Academy First Team will be looking to force their way back into the winners’ circle on Saturday when they take on Floreat Athena at E&D Litis Stadium in Round 6 of the NPL WA season.
John Gibson’s men suffered their first defeat of the campaign last weekend, going down 2-1 at home to ECU Joondalup courtesy of Daryl Nicol’s late penalty, but midfielder Callum Timmins felt that the result was harsh on the hosts.
“I thought we deserved a minimum of a point,” he said. “In the first half we fell into their trap a bit and weren’t physical enough. But after the break, we were well on top and they could hardly get out of their own half. Unfortunately they just got their goal from the penalty after a ball over the top caught us out.”
Timmins has, of course, been in around the Hyundai A-League squad this season and trains alongside the senior players day in, day out. And unsurprisingly, he feels that his game has benefitted significantly as a result.
“I feel like I’ve improved since last year,” he said. “I feel a lot more confident. Because I’m playing with better players every day, when I go into NPL games I’ve got that bit more, not cockiness, but confidence and that’s definitely helped my performances this season.”
The 18-year-old will be out to maintain his impressive early-season form in what he predicts will be a free-flowing game on Saturday and is also hoping to open his goalscoring account for the year having gone agonisingly close on several occasions already.
“I’m expecting Floreat to be more of a ball-playing team than some of the other sides that we’ve come up against so far this season who have been more physical,” he said
“It’s a bigger pitch at Floreat as well which will give us a chance to do ourselves a bit more justice as we like to move the ball around and we’re pretty confident going in.
“At a personal level, I’m definitely looking to add more goals to my game. I hit the bar twice against Forrestfield, so I’m slowly getting closer to that first goal of the season!”
Gibson, meanwhile, is also expecting a good spectacle at E&D Litis Stadium as his young charges go in search of a fourth win of the season which could take them top of the ladder if results elsewhere go their way.
“Obviously it would have been nice to have got a positive result against ECU last weekend, especially as we haven’t beaten them in four years, but we’re getting closer and closer and are getting more competitive,” he said.
“Now we’re looking to take the lessons we learned from that game into Saturday’s meeting with Floreat. It’s another great challenge for us and one that we’re looking forward to. It should be a great game on what is a really good pitch.”
If you fancy going along to see the youngsters in action, the Under-18s start the ball rolling at 1pm, followed by the Under-20s at 3pm, with the First Team game getting underway at 5pm.
The very best of luck to all of our sides and many thanks to our major Academy sponsors, Silverstone Recruitment.
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