Perth Glory’s semi-final against Wellington Phoenix at nib Stadium is just two days away.
Perth Glory-s semi-final against Wellington Phoenix at nib Stadium is just two days away.
It-s Perth Glory-s biggest game since the birth of the Hyundai A-League and a player who knows all about the big occasion is the club-s defender Steve Pantelidis. A Championship player with Melbourne Victory in 2007, Pantelidis has also played the last two Finals Series with Gold Coast United.
Steve, two days away from the final against Wellington, what-s the reaction of the team?
The reaction is really good. All the boys are positive, we had a great session today and hopefully we can get a good result on Saturday.
Three games against the Wellington Phoenix during the regular season and all three games were decided by just the one goal.
I think it will be a tight affair. They have a pretty good defence, and so do we, but hopefully Shane Smeltz, Billy Mehmet and Steve McGarry can score a couple of goals.
You-ve played in a few Finals Series, do you find games get tighter as the stakes increase?
Yeah, finals football is totally different to the regular season, it-s more intense. I think it will be the same come Saturday night against the Phoenix.
What about Shane Smeltz, the team-s marquee striker, seven goals in his last two games, his form has been brilliant?
He-s been great. He-s come good at the right time of the season but along with Shane, there are other boys who can also score. It doesn-t really matter who scores, as long as we get a good result.
And the Phoenix, they-ve also got a range of goal scores with Chris Greenacre, Paul Ifill and Tim Brown.
And also Ben Sigmund at the back. They are very dangerous, Bas van den Brink, myself and the other defenders with Danny Vukovic will have to keep an eye on them and hopefully keep them out.
PERTH GLORY v WELLINGTON PHOENIX
Saturday, 7 April
Kick-off: 5.30pm
nib Stadium
