Perth striker Shane Smeltz has warned Melbourne Victory that the Glory will be doing everything in their power to arrest a three-game losing streak when the two sides face off at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
Perth striker Shane Smeltz has warned Melbourne Victory that the Glory will be doing everything in their power to arrest a three-game losing streak when the two sides face off at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
Speaking before training on Friday, Smeltz said Perth would be desperate to turn results back in their favour after their recent run of losses cancelled out a three-game winning streak to start the new campaign.
The Glory were desperately unlucky in last week’s 1-0 loss to Sydney FC, dominating the second half as they created a series of shots on target.
But the Western Australians were denied by inaccuracy, the woodwork and an imposing performance by Sky Blues stopper Liam Reddy as Sydney held on.
“I can’t predict anything, but I can certainly say that we’re going to be doing everything we can to put things right as quick as possible,” said Smeltz.
“We had three wins, so a good start and then we’ve had three losses and in those three losses I think there’s certain things that we could have changed quite easily.”
“Our standards dropped a little bit, we copped some easy goals and that always makes it hard away from home to bounce back and score goals.”
“So if we can stop that, well I think we’ve always got goals in us in this team.”
Smeltz says he has recovered from a cork he picked up in a clash with Reddy, and os looking to add to the two goals he’s already scored in Melbourne this year, after bagging a double against the Heart at AAMI Park in Week 2.
Smeltz has currently scored 52 goals and is second only to Victory’s Archie Thompson (56) in the all-time list of top Hyundai A-League scorers.
“I just did an interview before and someone said that Archie’s going to be tracking back to tackle me,” joked Smeltz.
“Nah, there’s no battle going on, it’s simply, I think the three points are more important at this stage.”
Former Qantas Socceroo Mile Sterjovski will start the game this Sunday after impressing on the wing last weekend when he came on during the 55th minute in his first minutes for Glory this campaign.
And, Perth’s bid for the three points, will be further boosted by Victory marquee man Harry Kewell not playing due to an injury he picked up while on Qantas Socceroos’ duties.
