Kenny Lowe hopes there’ll be “repeat performance” of last week’s winning effort as Perth Glory eyes off a third spot on the Hyundai A-league ladder.
The team will head into Saturday night’s bout against rivals Brisbane Roar at nib Stadium, with a home finals berth up for grabs.
The coach, while pleased with last week’s 5-0 drubbing of champions Adelaide United, wasn’t getting ahead of himself at the team’s prospects of climbing up the ladder.
“Let’s have plenty of by-products and keep winning” he said.
“We’re all fit and firing and everybody’s buzzing…we just focus on ourselves and focus on our strengths and focus on us”, he told reporters this week.
Lowe said while defender Shane Lowry had recovered from a quad injury, it was unlikely he’d change the line-up following the team’s second clean sheet of the season.
“It’s settled, we did quite well, we’re scoring goals…Rhys did ok, Dino did ok, I think you’d have a mutiny on your hands if you changed the team now”, he joked.
With only one loss in the past eight matches, Lowe said the team had started to gather momentum, partly because of the fact that his forward line had started to click in the past six weeks.
“I think Round 14 was the one where we got Cas (Castro) Keogh and Taggart in the same team, so all those factors add to the reason why we’re doing well. If you get your best players on the park and they’re all fit, you get a chance to do well” he said.
It’s almost a year to the day Glory beat Brisbane 6-3 in the corresponding fixture which helped re-ignite Glory’s 2016 finals prospects.
Lowe said this year, the club was ahead in comparison.
“Last year we we’re sitting 7th or 8th so compared to last year we’re more advanced, we’ve got more points, we’re scoring goals like last year …we’re in a good spot”.
The match against Brisbane at nib Stadium kicks-off at 7pm.
Glory Facts & Stats
- There have been 15 goals scored in the last three iterations of this; five per game on average.
- Perth Glory is undefeated in their last four home games against Brisbane (W2, D2) and has scored 11 goals in their last three such fixtures.
- Perth Glory scored 5+ goals in a game for the fourth time in their history in the last round, though the only previous time in their A-League history that they’ve scored 5+ goals at home was a 6-3 goal-fest win against Brisbane Roar in this corresponding round (20) last season.
- Perth Glory has made 521 clearances so far this season, the equal-most of any team alongside Melbourne Victory whilst no other team has made 500.
- Nebojsa Marinkovic has scored two goals and assisted one other in his last two games against Brisbane Roar.
- Chris Harold sits equal 2nd in the League when it comes to assists setting up his teammates on 6 occasions.
- Glory has FOUR players inside the Top 20 list when it comes to both goals and assists – Andy Keogh, Diego Castro, Adam Taggart and Nebosja Marinkovic.
- Adam Taggart and Andy Keogh both sit in equal 4th position with 9 goals in the A-League goal scoring charts.
- Perth still maintains the best crossing accuracy of any side with 32.3% of their crosses finding their intended target.
- Glory has converted 18.8% of their chances putting them SECOND in the A-League behind Victory.
- Perth are the kings when it comes to winning duels sitting top of the competition with 52.4%.
Match Details
Saturday, 18 February 2017
Perth Glory v Brisbane Roar FC
nib Stadium, Perth
Kick-Off: 7:00PM (Local) (10:00PM (AEDT))
Referee: Jarred Gillett
Assistant Referee 1: Scott Edeling
Assistant Referee 2: Josh Mannella
Fourth Official: Adam Fielding
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on Fox Sports 505 from 10.00pm (AEDT) and Sky Sport 3 (New Zealand)
Radio Broadcast: ABC Grandstand
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #PERvBRI
To purchase tickets visit
Perth Glory squad: 3.Marc WARREN, 4.Shane LOWRY 5.Rhys WILLIAMS, 6.Dino DJULBIC, 7.Joel CHIANESE, 8.Rostyn GRIFFITHS (c), 9.Andy KEOGH, 10.Nebojsa MARINKOVIC, 13.Nick FEELY (gk), 14.Chris HAROLD, 15.Brandon WILSON, 16.Joe MILLS, 17.Diego CASTRO, 19.Josh RISDON, 20.Aryn WILLIAMS, 22.Adam TAGGART, 23.Kosta PETRATOS, 33.Liam REDDY (gk)
**two to be omitted**
Ins: 3.Marc WARREN (promoted), 4.Shane LOWRY (returns from injury), 23.Kosta PETRATOS (promoted)
Out: 24.Milan SMILJANIC (released)
Unavailable: 2.Alex GRANT (foot – 2 weeks), 18.Mitch OXBORROW (foot – 2 weeks)
Brisbane Roar FC squad: 1.Michael THEO (gk), 3.Luke DEVERE, 7.Thomas KRISTENSEN, 8.Jacob PEPPER, 9.Jamie MACLAREN, 10.Brett HOLMAN, 11.Tommy OAR, 13.Jade NORTH, 15.ARANA, 17.Matt MCKAY (c), 22.Thomas BROICH, 24.Connor O’TOOLE, 26.Nick D’AGOSTINO, 28.Brandon BORRELLO, 29.Joe CALETTI, 43.Tomislav BILIC (gk), 46.Cameron CRESTANI, 50.Dane INGHAM
**two to be omitted**
Ins: 13.Jade NORTH (returns from suspension), 22.Thomas BROICH (promoted), 24.Connor O’TOOLE (promoted), 29.Joe CALETTI (promoted), 43.Tomislav BILIC (gk) (promoted)
Outs: 4.Daniel BOWLES (knee – season), 5.Corey BROWN (hamstring – 3 weeks), 21.Jamie YOUNG (gk) (not selected)
Unavailable: 19.Jack HINGERT (ankle – 1-2 weeks)
