Perth Glory coach Ian Ferguson says his team are ready for Brisbane Roar on Saturday afternoon.
Perth Glory coach Ian Ferguson says his team are ready for Brisbane Roar on Saturday afternoon.
With all the focus on Brisbane-s unbeaten run of 35 games, the Glory has been given little chance by the bookies, but that-s fine with Ferguson.
“There’s no pressure on us – there’s a lot of pressure on Brisbane,” said the Glory coach.
“It feels as though we’re coming to a party that we’re not invited to.”
The massive build-up to the biggest game this season took an unexpected twist today (Friday) when two of the Roar-s players clashed at training.
Goalkeeper Michael Theoklitos and defender Ivan Franjic had to be pulled apart after a heated exchange at their final training session.
Roar skipper Matt Smith later played down the incident.
“I think it just shows that we’re so competitive that even in training now, we don’t want to lose,” said Smith.
“It was a heat of the moment thing and the boys were fine afterwards so that’s not a problem at all.
“From time to time, these things happen and I’d be amazed to hear that these things don’t happen at any other club. But that’s the first time I’ve ever seen something like that.”
Brisbane is aiming to set a new Australian all-football record of 36 matches without defeat and Smith says the incident has already been forgotten.
“Culturally within the group, we’ve got some great harmony and that’s been proven over 18 months and that’s still the case now,” he said.
“We’ll see it in a positive light and hopefully use it tomorrow night.”
The Glory will be without the suspended Liam Miller and Mile Sterjovski for the match. Sterjovski, a former Socceroo has returned to Perth for family reasons with his wife expecting to give birth to their third child.
The blockbuster from Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane kicks-off at 4.45pm, Perth time.
