The PGFC Academy First Team are eyeing a confidence-boosting win over Inglewood United at 1620 Capital Stadium, Hartfield Park on Saturday in what is their final game of the regular NPL WA season.
Glory went down 5-2 at Armadale last time out, a defeat which ended their hopes of a top-six finish.
But with the bottom-six play-off series set to get underway next weekend, Head Coach Richard Garcia feels that the Inglewood game is anything but a dead rubber as far as his young charges are concerned.
“Inglewood are always tough opponents,” he said, “and we want to roll into the bottom-six play-offs in a good vein of form.
“We need to put in a good performance and get a victory to make sure we head into the next round of games full of confidence and ready to go.”
Garcia went on to reveal that dealing with adversity has been a key focus in training this week.
“It [the Armadale game] was disappointing as far as the result was concerned,” he said, “and there’s also now a bit of a mental thing with the players that we’ve spoken about this week.
“We’ve talked about how to get over setbacks.
“I think we were having a good run and all of a sudden we’ve had a few poor results and confidence has started to leave a few of the players.
“How to bounce back from defeat is something that they need to learn and they’ve been very positive in training which has been good to see.
“We’re looking to get back to winning ways and I’m sure the mentality of the players has changed.”
One thing that won’t be changing this week, however, is Garcia’s approach to the game, with the former Socceroo confirming that the absence of a top-six finish as an incentive will have no bearing upon his preparations.
“We go on as normal,” he said.
“It just means that there are even more opportunities for others to play.
“If someone is having a good run, they’re going to get an opportunity.
“All these guys are of a similar age and all pushing to try and make the First Team.
“The competition for places is improving every week and that’s great to see.”
In early team news, Josh Rawlins will be unavailable for Glory as he serves a suspension having been sent off during the second half at Armadale.
Ahead of the First Team game, the Under-18s will be in action at 11am, followed by the Under-20s at 1pm and don’t forget that admission for Glory and Forrestfield United members is FREE.
(picture courtesy of Tom McCarthy)
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