Matthew Davies is still pinching himself after playing his first Hyundai A-League match on Sunday, slotting straight into the starting eleven and playing a crucial role in Glory’s 1-0 win over Melbourne Heart in front of 13,856 fans at nib Stadium.
Matthew Davies is still pinching himself after his stunning debut on Sunday.
The Perth Glory National Training Centre product played his first Hyundai A-League match on Sunday, slotting straight into the starting eleven and playing a crucial role in Glory-s 1-0 win over Melbourne Heart in front of 13,856 fans at nib Stadium.
It-s been a rapid rise for Perth-born Davies who only signed a two-year senior contract earlier this year from the AIS and had not even made an appearance off the bench, but all that changed when Head Coach Alistair Edwards pulled Davies aside on the Friday afternoon prior to the match and told him he was a ‘good chance- of playing on Sunday.
“It was an unbelievable experience and an honour to make my debut in front of a home crowd,” an excited Davies said.
The 1.79cm defender who is known for his strong tacking and solid decision making said the senior players had been great and were very supportive in the lead up time to the match.
“I think just about all of the senior boys stopped and took some time in the change rooms to give me a little advice. Most of it consisted of keeping my game simple at first then gradually working my way into it.”
Davies certainly did that with Coach Edwards reserving special praise for the 18 year old during his post-match press conference.
“I-m particularly pleased for Matty Davies. Playing in the Youth League last week and he got the opportunity to play today and I thought, if not our best player, he was close to being our best player so that’s great for us,” Edwards said on Sunday.
“He’s been training with us all the time and he’s played a few games in the preseason so it’s really good that people like Matty can come in and play like that in his first game in front of a home crowd,” Edwards said.
An avid Glory supporter growing up, Davies never missed an opportunity to watch the WA team in action, so to run out in front of a huge home crowd that he used to be part of must have been a bit daunting, but Davies said the pace of the game wasn-t as intense as first anticipated which helped him adjust quickly.
“I didn’t think there was a noticeable change in the pace of the game to what I was used to, but I think it-s probably just something you adjust to after training with the team for so long.”
“It was definitely the biggest crowd I-ve ever played in front of so it was awesome but I was too busy concentrating on the game to get too caught up in it,” Davies said.
