Glory’s Interim Head Coach, Kenny Lowe, believes that victory over Macarthur FC in Tuesday’s 2023 Australia Cup Playoff would provide a massive morale boost for the club.
The men in purple face the Bulls at Darwin’s Larrakia Park (kick-off at 5.30pm, 7pm Local Time) looking to secure a place in the competition’s Round of 32 for the first time since 2019.
And Lowe feels that the benefits of doing so would be both significant and wide-reaching.
“It’s massive,” he said.
“Just with where the club is at the moment, with a little bit of angst and sadness and anxiety, winning games helps everyone.
“Not just the players and the coaches, but everyone in the office, the staff, everyone associated with the club and it helps put a smile on their faces.
“The pre-season element is also massive.
“From my own time [previous stint as Glory Head Coach], I know that if you have a good Cup run, you get those extra games and it sets your season up.
“Whenever we had a good Cup run ,we had a good season, so if we can do that, fingers crossed, hopefully we can set ourselves up for a really good season.
“But the thing is to put smiles on everyone’s faces.”
Lowe went on to confirm that a number of the PGFC Academy players who impressed against West Ham at Optus Stadium on Saturday night could feature again in the Playoff tie.
“We’ve got [Joel] Anasmo, [Daniel] Bennie and one or two of the other younger boys, plus Dave Williams and the lads are in a good spot,” he said.
“We’re missing four; Beeves [Mark Beevers] is suspended and Musti [Mustafa Amini}, Jakey [Jacob Muir] and Ryan [Williams] are all injured.
“They’re a few weeks away [from returning].”
In terms of the game itself, meanwhile, the Interim Head Coach stressed that Glory’s main focus has been an internal one.
“Macarthur are a bit of an unknown,” he said.
“Obviously they’ve got new faces and not the same coach who started last season and it’s pre-season.
“I’m not sure how much work they’ve done and they won’t be sure how much work we’ve done, so it’ll be a little bit of a journey into the unknown.
“But as I said ahead of the West Ham game, we’re just going to play our way.
“The focus is us and we’re going to play a certain way and the players know that that’s a non-negotiable.
“We’re going to make mistakes in it because it’s quite demanding, but we’re accepting of the mistakes as we polish that.
“Some of the football we played in the first-half against West Ham, to be honest, was unbelievable.
“We had more possession, more shots, more entries in the final third and even [West Ham Head Coach] David Moyes said that the ‘keeper was their best player in the first-half.
“The boys are executing the way we want to play and that’s pleasing.”
Last season’s two A-League meetings between the sides yielded a win apiece, with Glory avenging a Round 8 defeat by securing a come-from-behind 2-1 victory at Macedonia Park in Round 22.
Overall, the Bulls have won 4 of their seven games against Glory, but this is the first time that the two sides have met in the Australia Cup.
Should Glory claim victory on Tuesday evening, the club will face a Round of 32 trip to South Australian NPL side, Campbelltown City.
That game will take place at Steve Woodcock/Service FM Stadium on Monday 14 August (kick-off at 5.30pm WST, 7.00pm Local).
Tuesday’s game can be viewed live and free on 10Play.
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