Perth Glory Foxtel National Youth League Team heads back to Melbourne again this weekend when they take on Melbourne Victory in week three of the Foxtel National Youth League at Lakeside Stadium on Sunday.
The youngsters will be buoyed by a 1-1 draw against City last week, and keeper Jordan Thurtell said the point was well deserved.
“The boys were brilliant on the weekend against a very strong Melbourne City side,” he said.
“Despite a slow start I thought we dominated the game and had plenty of opportunities to win the match. I was very proud of the boys and thought the effort was outstanding.”
The 19-year-old shot stopper is back to full fitness, after missing most of last season due to injury, and he hopes all goes well this campaign.
“Towards the end of last Hyundai A-league season I tore the ligaments in my elbow which took a little bit of the bone away with it,” he explained.
“It kept me out for around three months which was hard to deal with, but now I’m back, I still heavily strap it for training and games but it’s feeling really good.”
The young Socceroos custodian said they will be looking for three points against Victory, like they do every week.
“I think you have to go into every match thinking you have a big chance of winning, and if we can recreate last week’s efforts I think we can bring the three points home.”
Coach John Gibson said there were positive signs from the performance last week against the Champions, and is looking for his players to continue on with it on Sunday.
“They are a very good side and we matched them in all areas on the pitch, and thoroughly deserved the point,” he said.
“We created a host of good chances again, but we didn’t take these opportunities and Tando (Velaphi) produced a number of fine saves to thwart us, We’re heading in the right direction but we need to be better.”
They went into last week’s game without skipper Jacob Collard and new signing Jamal Reiners, who were both drafted into Kenny Lowe’s squad for the Hyundai A-League clash against Brisbane Roar and the coach said it is great opportunity for his youngsters.
“Jacob has been fantastic for us for the past two seasons and has an opportunity, but we have a group of players who are flexible and adaptable and enjoy the challenge that are put in front of them,” Gibson said.
“We handed three NYL starting debuts to Waliedin Ismail, Henry Derr and Stef Valentini last weekend which is great, the group as a collective were outstanding, but many areas of our play require improvement including the regain and controlling tempo in possession.
“There were many positives but if we can improve these key areas it will go a long way to bring us strong performance on Sunday.”
The match kicks off at 9am on Sunday.
