The business end of the season and Newcastle in town trying to put a dent in Glory’s Premiership challenge.
Sound familiar?
Well, it certainly will to members and fans of a certain vintage because as this week’s selected match day programmes testify, the men in purple were in a very similar position in both 2000 and 2004.
The first campaign of the new millennium had seen Glory vying for top spot with a number of clubs that included Wollongong Wolves, Sydney Olympic, Carlton SC and Marconi Stallions and by the time Newcastle came to Perth Oval with five games of the regular season remaining, Bernd Stange’s men were leading the way, two points clear of the Wolves.
So the stakes were indeed high and Glory fans could have been forgiven for fearing the worst when the New South Wales side snatched a surprise 2-1 win.
Those fears were to intensify when the following round brought another defeat, this time away at Marconi, but three straight 1-0 wins in the final three games proved enough to seal top spot.
Four years later, meanwhile, this time with Mich d’Avray in charge, Glory made altogether easier work of sealing the Premiership.
This time they were five points clear of Parramatta Power with only three games left to play when Newcastle came calling and the visitors were fairly easily dispatched 2-0, Damian Mori opening the scoring and Adrian Caceres making the points safe late on.
An entertaining 4-2 win at Sydney United followed, with future Glory players Dean Heffernan and Brendon Santalab both netting for the hosts, before a late fightback secured a 2-2 in the final game of the regular season at home to Marconi.
But these are only the bare bones of the story and as always, we’d love you to flesh them out.
So please share your memories of these games and seasons with us via Facebook HERE or Twitter HERE.
And to see the latest instalment of the race for the Premiers’ Plate at HBF Park this Sunday, grab your tickets HERE.
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