Glory ALW Head Coach Stephen Peters is backing his charges to build on their performance in last weekend’s win over Newcastle when they face Brisbane Roar at Perry Park on Friday (kick-off at 4pm, watch live and FREE on 10Play).
View Stephen Peters’ full pre-match media conference HERE
The women in purple turned in a strong overall display to secure their first points of the campaign by downing the Jets 3-2 at HBF Park, with Georgia Cassidy and Sarah O’Donoghue grabbing their first goals for the club and Kelli Brown scoring her second in as many games.
But Peters believes that his new-look group still has plenty more gears to go through.
“The weekend was pleasing,” he said.
“It was nice to see the game out.
“There were a few things we weren’t happy about, but we’re not going to put holes in a three-point performance yet.
“I think we’re growing as a group, particularly defensively.
“We’ve still got to improve in terms of how much higher up the field we defend.
“That’s some stuff that we’ve got to continuously work on and obviously we would love to have a bit more possession and that’s also something that we’re working on.
“But the most important thing for us is that we seem quite unified and on the same page and those are the kind of performances that we want to be putting in to build that base.
“It’s been really good so far.”
Friday’s opponents are set to include Matildas representatives Tameka Yallop and Sharn Freier in their squad, but while acknowledging the duo’s undoubted quality, Peters insisted that his group’s main focus has been an introspective one.
“They have some really experienced players and I think Tameka is going to be a very difficult proposition, Sharn as well,” he said.
“But although it’s a bit of a cliche, we’re concentrating on ourselves and trying to generate a higher level of performance each week.
“It’s a short turnaround, but we’re looking to generate some more momentum this week.
“The results will look after themselves if we’re putting in the type of performance that we want to be putting in.
“We have three girls in our squad that have a background of being from Brisbane, so we know a little bit about the team.”
The Head Coach went on to confirm that co-captain Onyinyechi Zogg could make her first start of the season after coming off the bench in the win over the Jets, but Megan Wynne, Izzy Foletta, Susan Phonsongkham and Bella Wallhead all remain sidelined by injury.
Roar began their 2024/25 campaign with a 3-2 defeat away at Canberra United, but bounced back in style by downing reigning Champions Sydney FC last weekend.
Defender Chelsea Blissett scored the only goal in that victory over the Sky Blues, while former Glory forward Deborah-Anne De La Harpe and new Bulgarian import Evdokiya Popadinova were on target in Round One.
The previous 22 meetings between the two sides have yielded an even split of nine wins apiece and four draws and that pattern has been replicated in Glory’s last four visits to the Sunshine State which have seen them post two victories and suffer two defeats.
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