Perth Glory coach Ian Ferguson was thrilled with his side’s perfect opening to their new campaign as they put a tumultuous previous season behind them in the best possible way.
Perth Glory coach Ian Ferguson was thrilled with his side’s perfect opening to their new campaign as they put a tumultuous previous season behind them in the best possible way.
The Glory dominated the first half against Adelaide United on Sunday, but had to wait until the 77th minute before club debutante Billy Mehmet guaranteed the three points with a clever glancing header.
However, while the 9452 fans at nib Stadium were happy with the result, they would have been delighted by the performance of new international signings Mehmet, Liam Miller and Andrezinho, who gave the Glory the touch of class missing for much of last season.
“It’s fantastic compared to where we’ve been a few months ago,” Ferguson said after watching a squad he built from almost the ground up do the business in fine style.
“It was important that we got a good start and the momentum these boys have built up during pre-season has been fantastic.”
“It’s really been a joy to work with them and the effort and commitment that they put in today was outstanding.”
“I thought everybody worked their socks off and they put in a real true performance showing that that’s what we want from the players, that’s what we expect from the players.”
“There was some nervous minutes, but you know, as you analyse the game, we could easily have scored six or seven goals today, and the game could have been finished a long time ago.”
Andrezinho was exceptional on the left flank during the first half as his penetrating runs terrorised Adelaide’s defence, while his crosses set up several opportunities.
Mehmet worked hard to attack and defend while Miller’s set pieces almost delivered goals on a number of occasions.
But having fluffed quality chances before half-time the Glory were forced on the defensive somewhat as Adelaide lifted their rating after the break.
As Todd Howarth was forced into a desperate block on the line to deny Bruce Djite’s goalbound shot on the hour, Glory skipper Jacob Burns said he started fearing this wouldn’t be his side’s day after all.
“(If) it’s 0-0 when you’ve created so many (chances), you think it might come back and bite you, ’cause you haven’t finished it,” Burns said.
“But you’ve got to have the belief and we kind of stuck to that today.”
“I think seeing Toddy Howarth there clear that ball off the line just shows you that that turns the game down the other end for us.”
“We created that many chances up front but if you haven’t got someone doing that on the line for you or someone making the tackles, then you cop one.”
