His Glory side may be in red-hot form at home, but Head Coach Stephen Peters is taking nothing for granted ahead of Saturday’s must-win Round 20 clash with Western Sydney Wanderers at the Sam Kerr Football Centre (kick-off at 5pm, tickets available HERE).
Click HERE to view his full pre-match media conference
The women in purple have won their last three home fixtures on the bounce and lost just twice in WA all season, while 12th-placed Wanderers have secured maximum points only once on their travels.
With a six-point gap to close in order to clinch a Finals berth and only four games remaining, however, Peters is keenly aware of the need to remain fully focused.
“The way I’m looking at it is that if we win this week and the teams above us lose and we’re only three points out, [of the top six] then we’re three points out with three games to play,” he said.
“So we’re taking it week by week, game by game and we’ve just got to make sure that we concentrate on doing our piece this week, which I think we’re more than capable of doing.
“Western Sydney are a very committed and very physically fit team and I think with Geoff [Abrahams] at the helm now, they’ve hit a bit of a sweet spot with a level of organisation and some potency on the counter-attack.
“They also have a very good threat at set-pieces from [Sienna] Saveska and they’re a dangerous team.
“They’re obviously down the bottom of the table, but that could make them a little bit more dangerous in terms of making sure we don’t drop to a level to where you’re not taking them seriously.
“We need to take them extremely seriously… so it’s a very good test for us.
“We love Sam Kerr [Football Centre], it’s a great venue for us and we’ve won our last three games there.
“So we need to be going in with a level of confidence, but we also can’t afford to be complacent.
“Wanderers will be a prickly team who will come and make life difficult for us and we’ve got to be ready for that stuff.”
Glory come into Saturday’s fixture off the back of a topsy-turvy 3-3 draw with Central Coast Mariners in which they fell behind twice either side of taking the lead and eventually salvaged a point courtesy of a stoppage-time effort from Tijan McKenna.
And the Head Coach admitted he wasn’t quite sure whether to be pleased or dismayed at the final whistle.
“In the first half I felt we were really good and then went 1-0 down against the run of play, so that was a difficult one,” he said.
“I think what was good was that we didn’t drop our heads and at half-time I was very buoyant about our chances of taking the game back.
“We spoke about getting a goal back and then getting another one and they did that pretty quickly, inside the first ten minutes.
“I think we got a bit of a nosebleed, lost our cool and composure a little bit and Central Coast did very well with the ascendancy they gained as a result and put two nice goals away.
“From there, you’ve got this feeling that we’ve lost the game, but the character we showed to keep going and keep pushing right to the end was really good and getting the goal right at the end definitely felt like we’d gained a point.
“It was a roller-coaster of emotions, to be honest.”
In terms of early team news ahead of the clash with Wanderers, Peters confirmed that both Georgia Cassidy and Kelli Brown are closing in on a return to full fitness, but will continue to be assessed before a final decision is made regarding their potential availability this weekend.
Western Sydney Wanderers, meanwhile, come into Saturday’s game having shown some puzzling form since the turn of the year, losing five on the bounce before racking up three consecutive wins and then being edged out 2-1 in Round 19 by Wellington Phoenix.
Three of their four wins this term have been at home, with their solitary away success coming over Central Coast last month.
Among the standout performers for Geoff Abrahams’ side have been Sienna Saveska, who has bagged seven goals, defensive duo Danika Matos and Amy Harrison, who have started every game and tenacious forward Sophie Harding, who has found the net three times and added an assist.
The two sides have met on 21 previous occasions, with Glory claiming ten wins to Western Sydney’s nine and just two games ending all square.
Glory’s last victory over the re-and-blacks came in January 2022.
Match Details
Ninja A-League 2024-25 Season Round 20
Perth Glory v Western Sydney Wanderers
Sam Kerr Football Centre
Saturday 22 March 2025
Kick-off: 5pm
Perth Glory squad: 1.Casey DUMONT (gk), 2.Mischa ANDERSON, 3.Hollie PALMER, 5.Grace JOHNSTON, 6.Tijan MCKENNA, 7.Megan WYNNE, 10.Susan PHONSONGKHAM, 11.Natalie TATHEM, 13.Naomi CHINNAMA, 14.Miku SUNAGA, 18.Izzy FOLETTA, 19.Sarah O’DONOGHUE, 21.Miranda TEMPLEMAN (gk), 22.Ischia BROOKING, 23.Izzy DALTON (c), 25.Ella LINCOLN, 27.Charli WAINWRIGHT, 29.Onyinyechi ZOGG
(Two to be omitted)
Ins: 14.Miku SUNAGA, 22.Ischia BROOKING
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 8.Georgia CASSIDY (injured), 9.Gabby HOLLAR (injured), 20.Ella ABDUL MASSIH (injured), 44.Kelli BROWN (injured)
Western Sydney Wanderers squad: 3. Gemma FERRIS, 5. Milly BENNETT, 6. Amy CHESSARI, 7. Amy HARRISON (C), 8. Olivia PRICE, 9. Sophie HARDING, 10. Sienna SAVESKA, 11. Danika MATOS, 12. Bronte TREW, 13. Talia KAPETANELLIS, 14. Ella BUCHANAN, 15. Cushla RUE, 17. Milly CASSAR, 19. Talia YOUNIS, 20. Sham KHAMIS, 23. Maya LOBO, 31. Keely SEGAVCIC, 37. Ena HARADA
(Two to be omitted)
Ins: 13. Talia KAPETANELLIS,17. Milly CASSAR
Outs: Nil
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