Head Coach Ruben Zadkovich is quietly confident that his squad are well placed to get the better of Western United in Saturday’s final home game of the regular ISUZU UTE A-League season at HBF Park (kick-off at 8pm, tickets HERE).
Glory could still make the Finals should they pick up three points and Wellington Phoenix lose to Macarthur FC earlier in the day as the race for the top six builds towards a thrilling finale.
And Zadkovich senses that his players are keyed up by the potential of that dramatic scenario unfolding.
View his full pre-match media conference HERE.
“Everybody is a little bit on edge in the sense that we can see there’s a big opportunity,” he said.
“You can see that the players are putting their hands up; they want to be picked and want to be a part of it.
“There’s always a good buzz at this stage of the season when you’re in the mix and for us to have a chance to play Finals, that would be a massive achievement for the team.
“It’s not a massive achievement for us in terms of what our aspirations are.
“As a club, we want to be a top team, competing at the top and winning trophies.
“But given the context of where we were at, it would be a big positive for us to play Finals and everyone is very positive and optimistic about the weekend’s game.
“We’re still looking to build and improve and we feel like if we improve again this weekend, we should get the points.”
While still mathematically in with a chance of making the top six themselves, Western United’s season is effectively over as they would require an incredibly unlikely combination of favourable results and a massive goal difference swing in order to make it.
Nonetheless, Zadkovich is keenly aware of how tough a challenge John Aloisi’s side will provide.
“Western United are a dangerous team as I feel like they have some key individuals who can hurt you at any moment,” he said.
“None more so than [Alessandro] Diamanti.
“Lachie Wales and Connor Pain as well, they can be very dangerous in transition.
“They pose some threats; [Aleksandar] Prijovic up top is a top-line striker, they’ve got Noah Botic who is a great talent and good prospect for Australian football.
“They’ve got Socceroos full-backs in [Ben] Garuccio and [Josh] Risdon, they’re a tidy outfit, last year’s Champions and they’re not to be underestimated.”
The Head Coach went on to confirm that Glory’s squad is likely to be close to unchanged on Saturday, meaning the sidelined quartet of Aaron McEneff, David Williams, Salim Khelifi and John Koutroumbis will again miss out.
“It doesn’t look like we’ll have any additions and we’ve got a couple of guys who have pulled up sore, which is a little bit to do with the hard pitch at HBF Park,” he said.
“But other than that, the group is optimistic about the weekend and excited.”
Last weekend’s defeat against Melbourne City all but extinguished Western United’s faint Finals hopes which had briefly been reignited when they won at Adelaide United in Round 24.
Their record of four wins, three defeats and a draw from their last eight games typifies their overall campaign in which the defending Champions have struggled for consistency.
Among their more impressive performers have been young striker Botic, who has scored five times despite making only nine starts, experienced ‘keeper Jamie Young, who has made the highest number of saves in the competition this year and winger Pain, who has contributed three goals and seven assists.
United have enjoyed the better of this fixture overall, recording six wins to Glory’s two, but they have never claimed three points here in the West.
Match Details
ISUZU UTE A-League 2022/23 Season Round 26
Perth Glory v Western United
HBF Park
Saturday 29 April 2023
Kick-off: 8pm WST
Referee: Daniel Elder
Perth Glory squad: 3.Jacob DOWSE, 4.Luke BODNAR, 5.Mark BEEVERS, 7.Ryan WILLIAMS, 8.Mustafa AMINI (c), 13.Cameron COOK (gk), 14.Jack CLISBY, 15.Jordan ELSEY, 16.Keegan JELACIC, 19.Zach DUNCAN, 20.Giordano COLLI, 21.Antonee BURKE-GILROY, 22.Adam TAGGART, 28.Trent OSTLER, 29.Darryl LACHMAN, 30.Pierce CLARK (gk), 31.Chris DONNELL, 36.Joseph FORDE, 37.Jacob MUIR, 43.Adam ZIMARINO
Ins: 20.Giordano COLLI, 31.Chris DONNELL
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 1.Brad JONES (gk) (injured), 2.John KOUTROUMBIS (injured), 6.Aaron MCENEFF (injured), 10.Salim KHELIFI (injured), 18.David WILLIAMS (injured), 24.Adrian SARDINERO (injured)
Western United squad: 1. Jamie YOUNG (gk), 4. Leo LACROIX, 5. Dylan PIERIAS, 6. Tomoki IMAI, 8. Lachie WALES, 9. Michael RUHS, 10. Steven LUSTICA, 11. Connor PAIN, 14. James TROISI, 17. Ben GARUCCIO, 19. Josh RISDON, 21. Sebastian PASQUALI, 23. Alessandro DIAMANTI (c), 27. Jacob TRATT, 31. Adisu BAYEW, 37. Ryan SCOTT (gk) 38. Noah BOTIC, 44. Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY, 88. Neil KILKENNY, 99. Aleksandar PRIJOVIC
Ins: 27. Jacob TRATT, 31. Adisu BAYEW (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 7. Tongo DOUMBIA (injured), 24. Connor O’TOOLE (injured) 42. Rhys BOZINOVSKI (injured)
#ONEGlory
