Head Coach Richard Garcia is adamant that the prospect of returning to Perth after more than 40 days on the road will not distract his Glory side ahead of Wednesday’s ISUZU UTE A-League clash with high-flying Melbourne City at AAMI Park (kick-off at 4.05pm WST).
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The men in purple flew from their temporary home in Tasmania to Melbourne on Tuesday ahead of the City game and are scheduled to complete their journey back to WA on Thursday morning.
But it is the showdown with the Victorians which is front and centre as far as Garcia and his players’ thoughts are concerned.
“We’re carrying a few knocks and the group look and feel a bit bruised and battered, but it’s an opportunity to pick up a set of away points before we return home to our fans,” he said.
“That’s our full focus.
“We’ve got to be improving in our performances week by week.
“We know that they [Melbourne City] have a deep squad and a lot of internationals in their squad and they’re at home as well, so it’s going to be a tough game.
“But I thought last time [v City] we did really well and were unfortunate to concede so late, so we know that we can go there and play the football we want to play and it’s about us playing that football.”
Garcia went on to confirm that a number of Glory players are expected to be unavailable on Wednesday, with the club’s gruelling schedule inevitably taking its toll.
In addition to Daniel Sturridge (groin), fellow-forwards Andy Keogh and Pacifique Niyongabire are also set to miss out.
“Andy has a little niggle… his Achilles is a little bit tight and he’s probably been carrying that for a while,” he said, “so he’s out again.
“We want to make sure that it doesn’t get any worse… so we’re treading a bit lightly with it to make sure that he’s ready to return for the run of home games.
“We’ve got Adrian [Sardinero] coming back, he’ll be limited off the bench tomorrow which is great.
“We’ve still got Pacifique out with a bit of a hammy, but he’s travelling well in rehab.”
Glory’s opponents, meanwhile, will head into the game knowing that even a point would enable them to reclaim top spot from Western United.
Patrick Kisnorbo’s side have collected maximum points in four of their last six outings and are the competition’s top scorers with 31 goals from 15 games.
The last ten meetings between City and Glory, however, have yielded four wins for the WA side, three for the Victorians and three draws.
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