Perth Glory coach Dave Mitchell was pleased his side held its own against Wolverhampton despite conceding a second minute goal to the Premiership side on Friday night.
Fielding a new-look squad that consisted of recent signings Qantas Socceroos Mile Sterjovski (Derby County) and Jacob Burns (Unirea FC), along with former Blackburn captain Andy Todd (Derby), the Glory started off in the worst possible way when Sylvan Ebanks-Blake tapped the ball home 90 seconds after kick-off.
But with the scene set for Wolves to have a night out, the Glory tightened considerably against the Premier League-bound club before crafting some opportunities of their own, Mile Sterjovski firing narrowly wide in the fourth minute.
Wolves still created the best chances as Andy Keogh and Andrew Surman forced diving saves from Tando Velaphi, but the Glory’s backline wasn’t broken down again in an encouraging display after the club conceded 44 goals last season.
“It was the first time a lot of players had played together but I think in patches we played really good football,” Mitchell said.
“The last 20 minutes, I thought we put them under a bit of pressure, knocking the ball around a little bit (but) we just couldn’t get the ball in the first half, we were giving it away (because) they were putting us under pressure.”
“That’s what we’ve got to learn to cope with a little bit better than we did.”
“But I think that was to be expected with the quality they are. I know it’s only their first game but they’ve been in England a little while and they’re Premier League players.”
“So very happy with the outcome, a lot of things to work on still but there were some good performances,” he said.
Playing his first Hyundai A-League match at the heart of the Glory’s midfield Burns said Ebanks-Blake’s goal came as a rude awakening for the side as it looked to integrate the new faces.
“I think we have to take the good out of the game,” Burns said.
“A lot of us have just been in the side for the last week and (it was) good opposition, a Premier League side.”
“It was unfortunate we copped that early goal, it was a bit lucky I think but we turned it around well and we created some chances and it could have gone either way there.”
The Glory could be further bolstered for next week’s pre-season clash with Fulham by the arrival of a third Qantas Socceroo in Chris Coyne and a possible Perth debut for Serbian striker Branko Jelic, who was unable to play against Wolves due to limited training since arriving in WA.
Mitchell said the news former Colchester United captain Coyne had agreed to a three-year deal at the club was the perfect end to a fruitful pre-season recruiting drive.
“It was six months ago we first contacted Chris,” Mitchell said. “So, we’ve talked to him at length and bearing in mind, he comes to the club and he’s taken a bit of a significant wage cut to come here and that’s a credit to him.”
“So it’s good to have him on board and again it’s another piece of the jigsaw that puts us in a position where we can hopefully challenge.”
