Perth veteran Jamie Harnwell expects the Glory’s late charge to the finals will face a Boxing Day test when they take on Adelaide at Members Equity Stadium.
After overcoming Sydney FC 4-1 last weekend, Perth, down and out at the start of the season, incredibly finds itself three points off the fourth-placed Central Coast Mariners and five points adrift of the table-topping Reds.
A win over Adelaide in this clash could set up a battle for fourth between Central Coast and Perth in the following week’s New Year’s Eve showdown between the clubs, but Harnwell is keeping his feet firmly planted on the ground, saying the side needs to rapidly put the euphoria of the Sydney win behind it and focus on the job at hand.
“Three points outside the top four, our home game to come, it’s all there for us,” said the stand-in skipper, whose been deputising for injured regular captain Jamie Coyne.
“It’s a situation we haven’t been in for a little while, so we’ve got to make sure we grab it with both hands now.”
“If we work to the system we’re playing and to our potential … we’ll certainly be competitive.”
“Obviously it’s going to be a massive test for us against Adelaide this week ’cause they’re top of the league with still a couple of games in hand, so they’ve obviously proven themselves here and abroad and we’re going to have to get ourselves up for that,” he said.
Harnwell said the team, laden with new faces at the start of the season, has started gelling effectively over the last few months both on and off the field.
And, the 31-year-old said a week spent preparing in Sydney for the match against the Sky Blues – the Glory opting to stay on the east coast after playing in Wellington the previous week – only helped boost the team’s morale further.
“We always knew the ability was there, it was just a case of we keep on going and don’t let ourselves fall into the silly lapses of concentration we’ve had earlier in the season,” Harnwell said.
“The team’s just been gelling a bit more … (but) it would have been pretty sour week if we hadn’t won.”
“There was a few practical jokes played, a few pranks by Pedro (Adriano Pellegrino) and Rizzo (Nick Rizzo) and I think Marc Anthony actually came good with a good one, he was a dark horse.”
“But it was a great week and obviously topped off with a win was fantastic.”
The Glory should be boosted for the Adelaide clash by the introduction of former Holland international and Ajax midfielder Victor Sikora, who has been brought to the club as an injury replacement for Brazilian talisman Amaral.
However Sikora will only have his first training session with the Glory on Wednesday and it-s hoped he can adapt to the team’s formations in time for the Boxing Day match.
