Glory defender Naum Sekulovski is preparing for a Wellington onslaught this weekend as the Hyundai A-League leaders look for payback in Perth after being knocked out of the finals by the Phoenix last season.
Glory defender Naum Sekulovski is preparing for a Wellington onslaught this weekend as the Hyundai A-League leaders look for payback in Perth after being knocked out of the finals by the Phoenix last season.
In one of the year’s most gripping encounters, the Glory bowed out of the play-offs through a heartbreaking penalty shoot-out loss at Westpac Stadium, with Sekulovski seeing his own spot kick saved.
The veteran defender, though, refused to say this match was about the Glory gaining some redemption for that loss, although he did admit the affects of that game were still being felt amongst the squad.
“Personally, I missed one of the penalties so hopefully we can get over them and get one back for that,” Sekulovski said on Wednesday after training.
“It’s not that important (to gain revenge), but at the end of the day I think it gave us that hunger to want to do well this year.”
“Obviously we failed in the finals against Wellington and now I think the boys have got that hunger and we want to go that next step forward.”
“We want to make the top four, we want to try and do what we can this season to rectify what happened in the last.”
Although the Glory will be without suspended striker Michael Baird for the next two matches, Sekulovski said the club could be fielding close to a full squad this weekend after Andy Todd (knee), Mile Sterjovski (ankle) and Jamie Harnwell (calf) all trained.
The three big-name players may all be needed too, as the Glory look to maintain their unbeaten record this season against a Wellington side sure to be smarting from a 1-0 loss to Brisbane last weekend.
“It’s going to be a tough game, they’ve (Wellington) built well in the off-season,” Sekulovski said.
“Obviously they’ve got a lot of confidence coming from the World Cup, a lot of their (New Zealand) boys are in that Wellington side.”
“We’re going to look forward to a big clash.”
“Especially when we’re at home, we’ve got to take the initiative.”
“It’s a hard trip for anyone to make so we’ve just got to make sure we concentrate on what we do well and I’m sure we’ll get up.”
