The PGFC Academy First Team return to NPL WA action this Saturday with a trip north to face traditional competition heavyweights Perth RedStar at RedStar Arena (kick-off at 3pm).
The youngsters have performed strongly in the first four rounds of the campaign and Head Coach Joe Heath has taken plenty of positives from what he’s seen.
“I’ve been very happy with it,” he said.
“The lads seem to have responded to us coming in [as coaches] and look like they are playing with freedom and confidence.
“That’s the way I want them to play.
“I want them to go out and express themselves on the pitch, while obviously being disciplined when they’re not in possession.
“There’s a lot of talent in this group and I’d like to see a lot of them push on.
“It’s a good group of players to be working with and I feel privileged to be working with them.”
Heath made no secret of his intention to focus on tightening up the First Team’s defence heading into the new season and that work on the training ground has paid dividends so far.
“We looked at some statistics from the last few seasons in the NPL and how many clean sheets gets you up there in the top half of the table,” he said.
“We’ve set ourselves a target of keeping ten or eleven clean sheets this season.
“It’s just little targets for them to aim for and the most encouraging thing is, given the amount of goals conceded last season, to have two clean sheets in the first four games.”
Saturday’s trip to RedStar is the first of three away fixtures on the bounce for Glory and the Head Coach is looking forward to seeing how his charges respond.
“It’ll be a good test for them,” he said.
“We’ve got some young lads in there, 16, 17, 18-year-olds, so it’s good for them to go and play at these places.
“I’m hoping that after these three away games, it’ll start to show a bit more of a true reflection of where they’re at as a group.”
The Under-18s and Under-20s will also be in action at RedStar Arena on Saturday, with their games getting underway at 11am and 1pm respectively.
Both sides progressed in the State League Reserves and U-18s Cup last weekend.
(photo courtesy of Tom McCarthy)
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