Glory Head Coach David Zdrilic believes his players are desperate to reward the club’s Members and fans for their loyalty with a win in Saturday’s final home game of the Isuzu UTE A-League season against Adelaide United (kick-off at 7:45pm, tickets available HERE).
Click HERE to watch his full pre-match media conference
The men in purple were superbly backed by a travelling army of supporters in last weekend’s away clash with Western United, the fixture chosen by the Glory Shed Supporters’ Club for their annual Tour of Duty.
And with support at HBF Park also having never wavered despite a tough season on the field, Zdrilic is keen for that faith to be repaid.
“The guys are putting in every week for themselves and for the fans,” he said, “and it’s not easy in this situation where you keep hearing that you’re playing good football, but you’re not getting the results.
“But on the fans, you saw last week how many fans came to Melbourne and that was fantastic to see, not just for us, but for the A-League.
“We want that culture of fans coming and for fans to do that in the situation where we are, just shows what a loyal fan base we have.
“And we’re seeing that at home.
“They’re just so ready for us to take the next step and start winning games and we know that.
“So we’re thankful to our fans and obviously we want to do everything to get that win.
“We want to win this game, we want to do it for our fans and we want to finish this season, at home, with a positive result.”
Standing in Glory’s way will be an Adelaide side who currently sit in seventh spot, outside the top six on goal difference having failed to win since the first week of February.
The South Australians announced on Thursday that Head Coach Carl Veart will be departing come season’s end, but Zdrilic does not feel that this development will have a significant impact upon Saturday’s game.
“It’s probably a shock for everyone there, especially the timing of it now during the season,” he said.
“It’s hard to say what the reaction is going to be and I don’t know what’s going on in the group over there.
“But I think he’s done a good job there and I think the players will be right behind him and will show that on the park.
“Adelaide this season have been a high-scoring team, they’ve scored plenty of goals and conceded plenty too.
“We had a 2-2 draw over there when we played them and they are a very good ball-playing team.
“They have a lot of dynamic players and I expect that to eventuate in this game.”
In terms of early team news, the Head Coach confirmed that defender Takuya Okamoto will again miss out through injury, but that Lachie Wales is a chance to feature subject to proving his fitness in Friday’s final training session.
As for United, their recent winless run is made all the more remarkable by the fact that they have managed to bag 14 goals in their last five outings.
20-year-old striker Archie Goodwin has been leading the way on the goalscoring front, helping himself to 12, while Englishman Zac Clough has found the net eight times and also added seven assists and midfielder Stefan Mauk has chipped in with seven goals.
There have been 27 previous ALM meetings between the two sides at HBF Park, with Glory claiming 11 wins to the Reds’ eight and the two most recent of those games yielded an aggregate of 14 goals.
The overall top scorer in this fixture is Glory skipper Adam Taggart with eight goals.
Match Details
Isuzu UTE A-League 2024/25 Season Round 26
Perth Glory v Adelaide United
HBF Park
Kick-off: 7:45pm
Perth Glory squad: 1. Oli SAIL, 3. Anas HAMZAOUI, 4. Tass MOURDOUKOUTAS, 7. Nicholas PENNINGTON, 10. Nikola MILEUSNIC, 12. Taras GOMULKA, 13. Cameron COOK (gk), 14. Nathanael BLAIR, 16. Adam BUGARIJA, 17. Yuto MISAO, 19. Josh RISDON, 20. Trent OSTLER, 21. Luke AMOS, 22. Adam TAGGART, 23. Patrick WOOD, 25. Jaylan PEARMAN, 26. Khoa NGO, 27. Will FRENEY, 28. Kaelan MAJEKODUNMI, 29. Tomi MRCELA
(Two to be omitted)
Ins: 3. Anas HAMZAOUI, 14. Nathanael BLAIR
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 9. David WILLIAMS (injured), 15. Zach LISOLAJSKI (injured), 18. Lachie WALES (injured), 24. Andriano LEBIB (injured), 36. Takuya OKAMOTO (injured)
Adelaide United squad: 1. James DELIANOV, 3. Bart VRIENDS, 4. Jordan ELSEY, 6. Stefan MAUK, 8. ISAÍAS, 9. Luka JOVANOVIĆ, 10. Zach CLOUGH, 12. Jonny YULL, 13. Max VARTULI, 14. Jay BARNETT, 17. Ben FOLAMI, 19. Yaya DUKULY, 20. Dylan PIERIAS, 21. Javi LÓPEZ, 26. Archie GOODWIN, 42. Austin AYOUBI, 44. Ryan WHITE, 51. Panagiotis KIKIANIS, 55. Ethan ALAGICH, 62. Fabian TALLADIRA
(Two to be omitted)
Ins: 62. Fabian TALLADIRA (promoted)
Outs: 7. Ryan KITTO (concussion protocols)
Unavailable: 7. Ryan KITTO (concussion protocols), 36. Panashe MADANHA (hamstring), 54. Bailey O’NEIL (individual training)
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