Goalkeeper Liam Reddy is confident that Glory can secure back-to-back clean sheets in Sunday’s Hyundai A-League Round 6 clash with Wellington Phoenix.
The 36-year-old has been in outstanding form so far this term, but was only called upon once last weekend as Adelaide United were kept scoreless.
And he believes that the visitors are well capable of producing an equally solid defensive display at Westpac Stadium.
“We are doing a lot of work on defensive structure in training,” he said, “and it paid off at the weekend because they only had one shot on target and that was from a free-kick.
“We took a lot of confidence from that and hopefully we can get another clean sheet this weekend.
“If we can do that, we know the lads up front will score, so we’d be confident of picking up three points.
“We still haven’t had a settled back four, but the boys coming in know their jobs and are doing them well, which bodes well for a good year.”
And Reddy feels that Glory’s improvement is not confined to the backline.
“Quality players like Mitch [Nichols], Andreu and Xavi [Torres], they’re going to be linking in with the front three.
“Andreu and Xavi have been finding their feet because they came late and we didn’t have the high-intensity pre-season games we would have liked.
“But they’re hitting their straps now.”
Although Phoenix will be missing several key players through international duty and injury, however, Reddy still feels that his former club will pose a stern challenge as they seek their first win of the campaign.
“Even without the likes of [Michael] McGlinchey and [Andrew] Durante, they still have plenty of quality and they can hurt you,” he said. “We know it’s going to be tough.
“They have the All Whites game [against Peru] the day before and I’m sure a lot of people will stay on and come to our game, so there’ll be a good crowd.
“It’s a good place to go and we’ll be up for it.”
Glory have certainly enjoyed their trips across the Tasman in recent times, winning two and drawing four of the last six meetings between the two sides.
And the Kiwi outfit have particular reason to be wary of Andy Keogh, who has scored four times in eight appearances against them, along with Diego Castro, who has bagged three in six.
Reddy, however, is set to receive a warm welcome from the home fans on Sunday following his successful stint at the club during the 2009-10 season.
He played a key role in driving Phoenix to a maiden finals appearance that year and captured the headlines during the Elimination Final against Glory when he saved two penalties from Naum Sekulovski and Scott Bulloch.
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