Glory ALM Head Coach Adam Griffiths believes small improvements in key areas will enable his side to put a run of positive results together, starting against Auckland FC at HBF Park on Saturday (kick-off at 6:45pm, tickets available HERE).
Click HERE to view his full pre-match media conference.
The men in purple suffered narrow defeats in each of their two most recent outings against Brisbane Roar and Western Sydney Wanderers after spurning a number of excellent chances and momentarily losing their defensive focus.
And Griffiths knows that has to change if Glory are to get the better of the reigning Premiers and current ladder leaders this weekend.
“We had some good moments in that game [against Western Sydney], but we didn’t take them early and the momentum shifted in that last 20 minutes,” he said.
“It was a bit of a lapse in concentration and we conceded late.
“We just have to work harder and really focus on those areas and start to become more clinical in those moments.
“If we become clinical, we get more momentum and we start to dominate the game more.
“From our perspective, we feel that we’ve been very close in every game and I feel that we can beat anyone that we’ve played thus far.
“It’s about re-focusing every day on those micro-moments, honing in on them and seeing how we can improve.
“Auckland is a team that doesn’t give up much, so we’re going to have to be at our best in terms of those clinical moments this week more than ever.
“It’s about finding that consistency and if we do that, we can go on a little run.”
Auckland will make the long trip west looking to extend their one-point lead at the top of the ladder and Griffiths is keenly aware of the Kiwi side’s qualities, as well as the A-League pedigree of their Head Coach, Steve Corica.
“Obviously Auckland present a new challenge,” he said.
“Every game has its different challenges and understanding the opposition is key, especially in this tight league.
“They’ve got really good aggression in their pressing, they’re a good team and they have a winning culture which is something we want to build, to have that same winning mentality consistently.
“They’re going to be an aggressive and physical team.
“They want to win and so do we, so we need to have the mentality to match that intensity and then try to improve on the areas we struggled in last week.
“Steve Corica has an appetite for winning.
“He’s won leagues, he’s very respected and he’s consistent.”
In terms of early team news, meanwhile, the Head Coach confirmed that Lachie Wales could be in line to make a welcome return from his hamstring injury and that the squad suffered no fresh injuries in the away clash with Western Sydney Wanderers.
Although they remain top of the ALM table with 25 points, Saturday’s visitors have only managed one win in their last five outings, downing Brisbane Roar 2-0 at Suncorp Stadium.
Their other away wins this term have come at Wellington, Central Coast and Western Sydney.
In terms of players to look out for, Lachlan Brook has helped himself to six goals, English import Sam Cosgrove has also bagged six and added three assists, while Jesse Randall has five goals and three assists to his name and former Glory midfielder Jake Brimmer has made eight starts.
Corica’s side have recorded the most shots on target across the league (82) at an average of 5.86 per 90 minutes with Randall contributing a league-high 21 of those.
Kiwi defender Francis de Vries, meanwhile, leads the league for crosses delivered with 105 and Belgian midfielder Louis Verstraete is the most fouled player in the competition (33).
Match Details
Isuzu UTE A-League 2025/26 Season Round 15
Perth Glory v Auckland FC
HBF Park
Saturday 31 January 2026
Kick-off: 6:45pm
Perth Glory Squad: 2.Charbel SHAMOON, 3.Sam SUTTON, 4.Scott WOOTTON, 7.Nicholas PENNINGTON, 9.Jaiden KUCHARSKI, 10.Luke AMOS, 15.Zach LISOLAJSKI, 17.Arion SULEMANI, 18.Rhys BOZINOVSKI, 20.Trent OSTLER, 22.Adam TAGGART (c), 24.Andriano LEBIB, 25.Sebastian DESPOTOVSKI, 27.Will FRENEY, 29.Matt SUTTON (gk), 34.Tom LAWRENCE, 39.Giovanni DE ABREU, 40.Ryan WARNER (gk), 45.Brian KALTAK, 67.Stefan COLAKOVSKI
(Two to be omitted)
Ins: 10.Luke AMOS, 24.Andriano LEBIB
Outs: None
Unavailable: 5.Riley FOXE (injured), 6.Brandon O’NEILL (injured), 8.Callum TIMMINS (injured), 13.Cameron COOK (gk) (injured), 31.Joel ANASMO (injured)
Auckland FC Squad: 1. Michael WOUD, 2. Hiroki SAKAI, 3. Jake GIRDWOOD-REICH, 4. Nando PIJNAKER, 6. Louis VERSTRAETE, 7. Cameron HOWIESON, 8. Felipe GALLEGOS, 9. Sam COSGROVE, 10. Guillermo MAY, 11. Marlee FRANÇOIS, 15. Francis DE VRIES, 17. Callan ELLIOT, 19. Oliver MIDDLETON, 20. Oli SAIL, 21. Jesse RANDALL, 22. Jake BRIMMER, 23. Dan HALL, 27. Logan ROGERSON, 35. Jonty BIDOIS, 77. LACHLAN Brook
#ONEGlory
ALM Match Preview: Being clinical the key to downing ladder leaders says Griff
