Glory Westfield W-League Head Coach Bobby Despotovski has called upon his side to match Melbourne City’s intensity levels when they take on the reigning champions as part of Sunday’s double-header at nib Stadium.
The hosts will head into the game unbeaten this season and full of confidence following last weekend’s convincing 3-0 win over Western Sydney Wanderers.
But Despotovski is adamant that his charges will have to show further improvement if they are to topple the the all-conquering Victorians.
“The fact that they have won three back-to-back titles says a lot about their playing group and coaching staff and we’ll have to be at our absolute best to get anything out of the game,” he said.
“But in saying that, we’ve been working on certain things, certain areas where we feel we can exploit their weaknesses and counter their strengths.
“We need to match their intensity as well and win our individual battles all over the park.
“Our level of intensity in the Western Sydney game was very high and the patches of play were shared between the two clubs.
“We had ten or 15 minutes of domination and then Western Sydney had the same for the next ten or 15 minutes. The difference between the two sides was that we took our chances.
“Overall, it was a good performance because firstly, we matched their intensity and then we scored our goals and we need to do exactly that again against Melbourne City.”
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Despotovski went on to reveal that he feels the best is yet to come from his squad.
“I think there is definitely improvement in the group,” he said.”
“We’ve got some young girls in the side who had never played a W-League game until this season, so to be sitting third on the ladder and still be unbeaten after three games is very pleasing.
“The girls are developing very quickly and they need to because it’s a very short season and we don’t have time to bring someone in, give them a taste of it and then take them out. They have to grow up very quickly and our experienced players are helping them do that.”
One of those experienced players, Kim Carroll, unfortunately sustained a nasty head injury during the first half of the clash with Wanderers, but Despotovski confirmed that the Matildas defender is almost certain to be available to face City.
“Kim was training away from the group earlier in the week,” he said, “but she will train normally on Friday and I’m 99.9% certain she’ll be good to play.”
Sarah Carroll and Jacynta Galabadaarachchi will unfortunately both miss out due to injury, while key forward Kyah Simon could return for the visitors after recovering from an injury she picked up on international duty with the Matildas.
Sunday’s fixture kicks off at 6.45pm as part of a huge double-header alongside the Hyundai A-League game which starts at 4pm and you can grab your tickets HERE.
Match Details
Sunday, 25 November 2018
Perth Glory v Melbourne City FC
Venue: nib Stadium, Perth
Kick-Off: 6:45PM (Local) (9:45PM (AEDT))
Referee: Katie Patterson
Assistant Referee 1: Matthew Southern
Assistant Referee 2: Adrien Liechti
Fourth Official: Shane Skinner
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #PERvMCY
Click HERE for tickets.
Perth Glory squad: 1.Eliza CAMPBELL (gk), 3.Kim CARROLL, 4.Alyssa MAUTZ, 5.Shannon MAY, 6.Abbey MEAKINS, 7.Nicole STANTON , 9.Rachel HILL, 11.Leticia MCKENNA , 12.Jenna ONIONS, 13.Jamie-Lee GALE , 14.Caitlin DOEGLAS, 15.Alexia MORENO, 18. Isabella FOLETTA, 20.Sam KERR (c), 22.Morgan AQUINO (gk), 24.Natasha RIGBY, 25.Katie NAUGHTON
**two to be omitted**
Ins: 6.Abbey MEAKINS (promoted), 13.Jamie-Lee GALE (promoted), 15.Alexia MORENO (promoted), 22.Morgan AQUINO (gk) (returns from injury)
Outs: 17.Liana COOK (not selected), 23.Stacey CAVILL (gk) (not selected)
Unavailable: Nil
Melbourne City FC squad: 1.Lydia WILLIAMS (gk), 2.Yukari KINGA, 3.Lauren BARNES, 4.Chelsea BLISSETT, 5.Helen CACERES, 8.Elise KELLOND-KNIGHT, 10.Nia STAMATOPOULOS, 11.Rhali DOBSON, 12.Adriana JONES, 16.Sofia SAKALIS, 17.Kyah SIMON, 19.Tyla-Jay VLAJNIC, 22.Jasmyne SPENCER, 23.Melissa BARBIERI (gk), 31.Tameka BUTT, 88.Theresa NIELSEN
**one to be omitted**
Ins: 4.Chelsea BLISSETT (promoted), 5.Helen CACERES (promoted), 17.Kyah SIMON (return from injury)
Outs: 14.Shelby GREEN (not selected), 15.Amy JACKSON (unavailable)
Unavailable: 7.Steph CATLEY (knee), 9.Jodie TAYLOR (international duty), 13.Rebekah STOTT (international duty)
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