Goalkeeper Danny Vukovic was taking the positives out of Glory’s 0-0 draw with Adelaide United at nib Stadium on Sunday after a difficult week at the office.
Goalkeeper Danny Vukovic was taking the positives out of Glory-s 0-0 draw with Adelaide United at nib Stadium on Sunday after a difficult week at the office.
“It was the first time we-ve kept a clean sheet in two months and we came up against an in-form team so we-ll build on that,” Vukovic said.
“It was a long week, a lot of media coverage and it was a tough one for everyone, so just to get through it, come away with a good point so I think people were pretty happy with it.”
It was Kenny Lowe-s first points of the season after stepping in as the club-s Interim Head Coach during the week.
The former Glory Assistant Coach and Head Coach of the National Training Centre has previously worked with a number of the club-s up-and-coming players, but Vukovic remains one of the few players that has not worked under the 52-year-old in some capacity.
However, ‘The Rhino- says he has been impressed with the new coach after only a couple of days into the new job.
“From the couple of days I-ve spent with him, I can already see he is a great motivator, great man-manager and from what the boys say, a great tactician.”
“The boys who missed out yesterday and I saw Kenny speak to them and I think the boys appreciate that.”
“Everyone is moving in the right direction, obviously we have to draw a line in the sand and move forward. What-s happened has happened and we-ve still got more than half a season to go so it-s important that we stay positive and keep moving forward.”
The Glory now move onto a tough Xmas period with away games to the Central Coast Mariners (December 31) and Newcastle Jets (January 4) but Vukovic believes the team is more than capable of getting some positive results over east as they remain one hundred percent committed to the club-s new direction.
“We-re very confident, we-re certainly united and we do believe that we can play finals football,” he said.
“We-re coming up to an important period of the competition where some good results will propel us into that top six, and obviously if we don-t play well than we-ll lose touch, so it-s an important time for us and just great to get that game yesterday out of the way.“
“Two tough games but two games we believe we can do well in so it can really set our season up.”
Ryo Nagai is the latest player to be hit with an injury setback after damaging his hamstring in the 74th minute, although that setback was countered somewhat by the successful return of Sidnei Sciola Moraes- in yesterday-s match and the possible inclusion of Shane Smeltz and William Gallas for the next two games.
“Shane is a big chance to get some game time when we go away. I-m not so sure about William. Obviously for us to have him in the team, we-re a better side with him in there but we-ll see how he goes at training this week.”
Despite a number of injuries to key senior players like Scott Jamieson (Achilles), Josh Risdon (knee) and attacking midfielder Travis Dodd (knee), Glory-s squad continues to be competitive with younger players Matty Davies, Jack Clisby, Riley Woodcock, Cameron Edwards, Jamie Maclaren, Chris Harold, and Brandon O-Neill all making significant contributions against Adelaide.
“They-ve done exceptionally well to be thrown in the deep end like they have been. We knew they had the talent. You don-t know if they are going to be up to the task unless you give them a go but it-s good to see that they-ve done well since they-ve come in and we-ve got Risdon coming back from injury but he going to have a tough time getting his spot back,” Vukovic said.
