Perth Glory fans could see scoring aces Jamie Harnwell and Eugene Dadi in action up front together for the first time this season with the latter putting himself in the frame for selection after overcoming a niggling groin injury.
Perth Glory fans could see scoring aces Jamie Harnwell and Eugene Dadi in action up front together for the first time this season with the latter putting himself in the frame for selection after overcoming a niggling groin injury.
Dadi, who has missed the Glory-s last two matches, has been on target four times this season and scored the winner against Wellington when the Kiwi-s last made their way west in round five.
Injury has denied Mitchell the option of pairing the big strikers together in attack until now, and while the combination of Harnwell and speed machine Nikita Rukavytsya has been fruitful in the last fortnight, the coach could take a different approach this week.
“Eugene has been moving well at training this week so it-s just a matter of seeing how he pulls up after our last session on Saturday and I-ll make my decision from there,” Coach Dave Mitchell said.
“If you wanted to put a lot of crosses into the box you could definitely play two big men up there.
“Nikita and Jamie have developed a good partnership and are scoring goals, so we have a few options which is great,” Mitchell said.
Perth has enjoyed wins in their last two starts at Members Equity Stadium and the playing group is determined to take another three points on Sunday against the Phoenix.
“Our home form has been quite good and if we can continue to perform well here we give ourselves the best opportunity of taking that into our matches away from home. Playing well at home is also a great way to reward our loyal supporters and we look forward to producing more wining football for them on Sunday,” Mitchell said.
A familiar face will make his way back to WA for the first time since joining Wellington in the off-season with speedy winger Leo Bertos set to tackle his former Glory team mates after missing the clash earlier in the season through injury.
“Leo looks like he is back up and going and he-ll be one we-ll need to watch along with the entire Wellington team who have shown they-re more than capable of travelling and getting a win. They beat Central Coast in Gosford a few weeks back which was a very good match.
“We-re preparing for a tough game and I-m sure they-ll be doing the same. I-m confident however that if we have the passion and determination in our play, like we-ve seen in recent weeks, we can secure a vital three points in front of our home supporters,” Mitchell said.
Perth Glory v Wellington Phoenix
Sunday 2 November, Members Equity Stadium
Local kick-off 5.00pm (7.00pm AEDT)
To purchase tickets visit www.ticketmaster.com.au
Match Radio Broadcast on 6PR 882am – click here to listen
Live and exclusive broadcast on FOX Sports 1 and on Sky Sport 2.
Referee: Chris Beath
Perth Glory Squad: 30.Tando VELAPHI (gk), 2.Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY, 4.Jamie COYNE (c), 5.Jamie HARNWELL, 6.Dino DJULBIC, 7.Nick RIZZO, 9.Adrian TRINIDAD, 10.AMARAL, 11.Scott BULLOCH, 13.Nikita RUKAVYTSYA, 14.Eugene DADI, 16.Adriano PELLEGRINO, 17.James DOWNEY, 18.Hayden FOXE, 19.Naum SEKULOVSKI, 20.Frank JURIC (gk), 22.Wayne SRHOJ.
* two to be omitted
In: 7.Nick RIZZO (promoted), 14.Eugene DADI (return from injury).
Out: Nil.
Unavailable: Josip MAGDIC (ankle – season), James ROBINSON (abdomen – 7 weeks), David TARKA (quad – 1 week).
Wellington Phoenix Squad: 1.Mark PASTON (gk), 3.Tony LOCHHEAD, 4.Jon McKAIN, 5.Karl DODD, 6.Tim BROWN, 7.Leo BERTOS, 8.Vaughan COVENY, 9.Shane SMELTZ, 10.Michael FERRANTE, 11.DANIEL, 18.Ben SIGMUND, 20.Glen MOSS (gk), 21.Leilei GAO, 22.Andrew DURANTE (c), 23.Costa BARBAROUSES.
In: 23. Costa BARBAROUSES (promoted).
Out: 15. Adam KWASNIK (omitted).
Unavailable: Vince LIA (knee – season).
