Perth Glory midfielder Victor Sikora believes its essential the Glory takes some momentum from its second half against Adelaide into this weekend’s road trip to Wellington.
Despite its expensively assembled squad, the Glory struggled to find fluency in its play during a tough first round trip to Adelaide where the Reds took the spoils in a 1-0 result, courtesy of Travis Dodd’s penalty.
Speaking on Monday, a disappointed Sikora said the team could play much better, particularly in the midfield, but added it was important to take some positives into Sunday’s clash with the Phoenix.
He said the Glory’s defence, led by veterans Andy Todd and Chris Coyne, stood firm throughout a tough evening against the Reds and added the team must play with the same intensity it displayed in the final 20 minutes.
“The boys from Adelaide said they were happy it finished when it did,” Sikora said.
“If the game went 10 minutes longer, they were under so much pressure (they may have conceded).”
“I think that’s the best, best thing from that game and from there we have to go further.”
“We have to win there for sure … we said to each other we want four points in two away games to start the season, and then we’ll get a big crowd for the home game.”
“(But) now we have to do it with three,” he said.
Along with maintaining the team’s solid defence, Dutch veteran Sikora said the Glory needed to find ways to overcome defensive midfields, like Adelaide’s, which stymied any Perth’s forward runs time and again.
“We had a feeling that we become a man short in the midfield,” he said.
“We’re still not getting the ball (forward) quick enough, and I talked with the guys and we have to swap the sides more and much earlier ’cause when we’re getting the ball we’re under a lot of pressure.”
“So we cannot face the goal and make our actions.”
“We’re still, I think getting used to fitting the guys in,” he added, referring to coach Dave Mitchell’s off-season signings, who have only been training fully with the team over the last month.
“And the second half was good, we saw a little of our shape but we can do much better than that.”
