Perth midfielder Adam Hughes hopes Travis Dodd’s first goal for the Glory will lead to bigger and better things for his former captain at Adelaide United.
Perth midfielder Adam Hughes hopes Travis Dodd’s first goal for the Glory will lead to bigger and better things for his former captain at Adelaide United.
Dodd was a regular scorer over six seasons with the Reds, notching up 24 goals during that time.
A difficult 2010-11 campaign at Adelaide convinced the 31-year-old it was time for a change, seeing him move west to Perth Glory in the off-season.
Dodd hadn’t been overly influential over the first three matches of the season, but showed off his predatory instincts with a brilliant glancing header to open the scoring against Central Coast last weekend, notching up his first Hyundai A-League goal for Glory in the process.
Perth may have gone on to lose that encounter 2-1, but Hughes, another ex-Red, believes the positive to emerge from that game may be a big boost in Dodd’s confidence.
“The first goal for a new club is always important,” said Hughes ahead of Saturday’s clash with Newcastle at Ausgrid Stadium.
“Obviously strikers have different goals and it can start being a burden on their backs if they don’t score early goals for a new football club.”
“But Travis himself was always going to be a chance to score and it’s going to be one of those ones where hopefully throughout the year he can score many more.”
Hughes himself was playing just his first game of the season against the Mariners last weekend.
One of the club’s best performers over the pre-season, Hughes was struck down by a nasty virus on the eve of the new season that saw him spend a 10-day period over in New South Wales resting and having numerous tests in hospital.
The virus badly affected his fitness and Hughes subsequently missed the Glory’s first three wins of the new campaign.
Although a little frustrated, Hughes is happy to just get his chance now as the Glory look to rebound against the Jets, a side they have beaten in four of their last six encounters.
Hughes, though, said the side had been working hard on defensive positioning and ball retention in a bid to erase the mistakes that saw Central Coast score two goals last weekend, both of which came against the run of play.
“I thought it was a great performance (against Central Coast),” said Hughes.
“It was just a couple of lapses in the match where we did let it slip a little, but it’s something we can watch in the review and work on and make sure that doesn’t occur again.”
“There’s certain things that we need to work on defensively, with the counter-cover and if something breaks down high up the pitch, where we should be in a positional stance and how should we be marking as a team over the park.”
“Every team’s going to lose possession somewhere over the park, it’s just a matter of how do you adapt to it, to regain that possession as quickly as possible.”
“It’s a matter of nullifying those mistakes and going forward taking your opportunities.”
Glory defender Chris Coyne also remains a chance of facing Newcastle after being forced off during the first half against the Mariners with tightness in his hip flexor region.
The former Qantas Socceroo had an injection in the area on Wednesday and made it through training the next day, giving him a chance for selection in Saturday’s squad.
