Perth Glory’s 2023 got off to a less than ideal start on Monday night.
Glory’s difficult campaign continued at Coopers Stadium, falling to a sixth-defeat of the season in a 2-0 road defeat to Adelaide United – with Ruben Zadkovich’s side remaining rooted to the bottom of the Isuzu UTE A-League table.
Perth struggled to get a foot-hold on the contest, with Adelaide creating the lion’s share of the chances through their bombardment of the flanks and problems created, as a result of utilising the wings, via the likes of Craig Goodwin and Ben Halloran.
MATCH REPORT: ADELAIDE END WINLESS RUN WITH PROFESSIONAL VICTORY OVER BOTTOM-PLACED PERTH
However, Perth did have a couple of moments to turn the game on its head, with some golden opportunities falling when the scoreline was still 1-0 in the early stages of the second-half.
Substitute Luke Ivanovic came the closest to pulling one back but put his effort wide from almost point-blank range, while Mark Beevers tamely directed an attempt on goal straight at Joe Gauci.
Moments like that were few and far between throughout the contest and they were ultimately made to pay.
Goals have been hard to come by for Perth this season, scoring a league-lowest seven goals from nine games this season – with no one being able to take the mantle as Perth’s main-option up top throughout the start of the campaign.
But help is on the way with the impending arrival of Socceroos striker Adam Taggart and former Adelaide United striker Bruce Djite is confident he is exactly what they need to turn their season around.
“Well, let’s speak about Adam Taggart, right? Because that’s what’s missing,” Djite said on Paramount+ post-game.
Those two amazing chances that they had tonight. If that’s ‘Taggs’ that’s two goals right there. Changes the game completely, changes the amount of points you have. Not to put too much pressure on the guy but they’ve got a lot of hope resting on his shoulders.
“So Perth Glory (are) not playing poorly, but the results are relatively poor. They need a bit of finesse, a bit of extra quality in that front third.”
On a brighter note for Perth, they play seven of their next eight games at home – including a stretch of four straight matches at Macedonia Park – starting on Friday night against Western Sydney Wanderers.
Despite their struggles on the road, Glory are still yet to lose at their temporary home (2-1 win vs Western United, 1-1 draw vs Wellington Phoenix) and that sort of form is cause for optimism for Zadkovich and his charges in the coming weeks.
Djite believes it’s imperative for them to make the most of their home surroundings in the coming weeks, especially if they are to close the gap on the sides above them.
“To be fair to Perth they played a lot of games away as well. Their home record is not too bad, the home record is quite good,” Djite said.
They needed to get those games at home, and they need to start getting results at home as well.
“In the sense that it’s just piling on pressure, right? You’re bottom of the league, you’re going to get a flurry of home games but you’ve got to win those games. You start dropping points at home and the season starts to look a little bit awry.”
