Perth Glory now must turn its attention to the longest trip in the Hyundai A-League to take on Wellington next weekend in a cut-throat final but coach Dave Mitchell still does not know who will be available to play.
Goalkeeper Tando Velaphi and midfielder Adriano Pellegrino returned in Saturday’s 2-0 win over the Brisbane Roar and came through unscathed, but now the Glory will await to see how Jacob Burns and Mile Sterjovski train this week, but Chris Coyne is a certain starter to face the Phoenix.
Coming into Saturday’s game at home to the Roar the Glory couldn’t move from fifth position on the table, but Mitchell was pleased to see his team still put in a strong performance.
“You’ve got your self pride and people had paid to come watch us, and it was still important to try to win the game the best we could and put the effort in. It was hard to get them up for it, but we are professionals and that’s what you’ve got to do,” Mitchell said.
“We kept a clean sheet which was good, scored a couple of goals and it was a good team performance. Scotty Neville was outstanding, Jamie Coyne played a very good game and it was great that Scotty (Bulloch) came on to score a good goal. Miskicks are always the best goals.”
While Coyne has recovered from his corked thigh to be right to play Wellington, Mitchell is totally unsure on Burns’ progress from a hamstring injury or Sterjovski’s back, but he won’t risk them unless they are 100 percent fit.
“Mile was training himself and Jacob hasn’t done much yet, so we’ll wait and see Monday or Tuesday how things pan out,” he said.
“There is a chance for them to be playing, but certainly I don’t want to be putting them out there if they’re not fit because we have some boys that have come in and did well. If they aren’t fit and get injured again then we are down a man and have to make a substitution, so that’s all going to come into it. You might chance it with one player, but not two or three.”
One player that is no chance to return is Victor Sikora. The Dutch attacking threat has been battling a thigh injury for some weeks now and has been unable to string training sessions together or play in the National Youth League, so Mitchell won’t be considering the 31-year-old.
“I don’t think he’ll be right, but he will train this week and we’ll see how he comes up,” he said.
“There’s a lot of competition for places and Victor’s not been part of the squad for a long time, so it’ll be hard for him to break in.”
While the trip to Wellington provides Perth the longest trip in the A-League as it makes its first finals appearance in the competition, Mitchell doesn’t want his players to get caught up in thinking about the negatives and is confident they can come home with a win to stay alive.
“It’s difficult, but going to Sydney or Melbourne away would be too. We were that close to getting a home final so that’s the disappointing thing for us. It’s not to be and it’s a difficult trip now,” he said.
“There’s a five-hour time zone difference plus the flying, so it’s not easy but we understand what we are up against and we will go there with a view of trying to win the game obviously.”
Much of the focus the last time the two sides met was on striker Eugene Dadi. He had only recently left the Glory to join Wellington when he came to Perth and inexplicably missed a penalty that left his coach Ricki Herbert fuming and the Perth fans and players delighted.
Mitchell can’t see him forcing his way back into the Phoenix side for the finals.
“Looking at their team they are doing very well and he wasn’t in their side on Friday, so I can’t see him playing next week.”
