Perth Glory head coach David Zdrilic lauded match-winning young gun Jaylan Pearman after Saturday night’s shock win over Isuzu UTE A-League leaders Auckland FC.
The teenage midfielder was the star of the show against the high-flying Black Knights, who dropped down to third in the standings albeit with a game in hand.
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After the game, Zdrilic heaped praise on Pearman.
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“He is just a great kid,” the Glory boss told reporters.
“I was talking to him at the start of the season, saying he is the future, he is one of the guys who will be the future of the club.
“So whenever he is ready to go, no pressure. Just come in and enjoy it really. He has really taken those words. He has very good feet. It was the strength… in training he was getting knocked off the ball a but he’s got a lot stronger.
“You can see now, that’s a very physical team Auckland and he was winning a lot of balls, so winning balls and holding it up. Then his finishing, left and right football is just phenomenal. He has scored many goals like that.
“But that tonight, that was special. I’m glad for him he got the goal.”
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The odds were well and truly stacked against Zdrilic’s Glory heading into the Round 13 fixture in Perth.
Perth had only won one of their opening 12 matches and were facing an Auckland side looking to cement their place atop the standings.
But the Glory had other ideas thanks to Pearman as they celebrated a priceless victory in front of their fans.
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“When you’re not getting the results… I know what these guys can do but then it’s that belief. But these guys keep resetting and going again,” Zdrilic reflected.
“That first-half performance was excellent. Even the goal that was disallowed, you saw how they celebrated but they just kept going. In this situation, you have to really applaud that.
“I thought in the end, it was deserved. They had their chances and again, goal-clearances are just as important as chances at the other end. But for me it was the ability to create a lot of chances at home. Probably there were more moments that should have become big chances, but generally we didn’t sit back and soak it up.
“Really pleased for the guys because they’ve been working hard. It’s not easy to cope some of these results, especially last time at home when we thought we’d won the game and ended up losing it in five minutes.”
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