Michael Thwaite and Scott Jamieson are back and ready for Friday night football at nib Stadium.
Fresh from their recent success with the Socceroos, defensive duo Scott Jamieson and Michael Thwaite have immediately switched their attentions to helping drive Perth Glory back into the winners’ circle.
Having featured prominently for Holger Osieck’s side as they successfully won through the East Asian Cup qualifying tournament in Hong Kong to seal a place in next year’s finals, the pair returned to full training on Thursday and have tomorrow night’s vital home clash with Newcastle Jets very much in their sights.
“It was a really good experience,” said Jamieson, “a good three weeks or so.
“There was a tournament kind of atmosphere, it was intense and it was good to get that positive outcome by qualifying to go through to the next stage.
“I played in the last two games and I was pretty surprised that I was feeling fresh after playing those two games in three days.
“I’ve had a good rest now and I’m really excited to be back with the boys and to try and get back into the team and play well.
“If I can come in as one of the eleven and help us to win, I’ll be happy with that.”
Those sentiments were echoed by Thwaite who was employed in a midfield role during three of the four tournament matches.
“I played those three games in six days which was very tiring on the body,” he said, “but I’ve well and truly recovered.
“We played our last game on Sunday and we got back a couple of days ago, did some light training yesterday and today it’s back down to business.
“Now it’s all about being consistent and playing well with Perth.”
In terms of the Jets clash, coach Ian Ferguson has vowed to shake up his side’s attacking options and Jamieson has full confidence in all the frontmen currently in the selection mix.
“I think we’ve got the goalscorers here,” he said.
“If you look at Billy (Mehmet), Smeltzy (Shane Smeltz) and Doddsy (Travis Dodd), they’ve all proven in the past that they’re goalscorers.
“Sometimes you go through a patch where you don’t score and I think collectively as a team we can try and help them.
“I’m not worried, I know it’ll come and hopefully when it rains, it pours.”
The visitors do of course have a high-profile striker of their own in the form of Emile Heskey and Thwaite is looking forward to mixing it with the former Liverpool and England star for the second time this season.
“It’s exciting for me personally to mark Emile,” he said.
“He is a world class player and hopefully we’ll look to shut him down and shut the service to him down as well.
“Stopping the crosses to him is vital.
“He’s always poaching in that central area and it’s important to limit his space and time on the ball.
“I think the last time we played them we held off in the first part of the game and they got a bit on top of us, so we’ll change that mentality this time.
“I think in that first passage of the game we really need to come to them and pressurise them.”
PERTH GLORY v NEWCASTLE JETS
Friday, December 14
nib Stadium
Kick-off: 6.45pm
