His two-year international exile may have come to an end but Perth defender Scott Jamieson won’t let a Qantas Socceroos cap distract him from his side’s clash against Wellington.
His two-year international exile may have come to an end earlier this week, but Perth Glory defender Scott Jamieson won’t be letting the prospect of winning his third Qantas Socceroos cap distract him from his side’s clash against Wellington.
Having been named by Holger Osieck in the provisional 25-man squad for next month’s East Asian Cup qualifying tournament to be held in Hong Kong, the 24-year-old will head to his native Sydney on Monday for a week-long training camp.
His immediate priority, however, is to help the men in purple bounce back from last weekend’s shock home defeat at the hands of Western Sydney by downing Wellington Phoenix on Saturday night.
“If I get the opportunity to go the tournament after the Sydney camp I’ll be absolutely buzzing, but it’s just about doing well in the Wellington game for Glory and then doing well in the Sydney week,” Jamieson said.
“To be honest, I haven’t been thinking about the Socceroos, I’ve just been concentrating on getting into the Glory team and staying in it and slowly but surely I’ve been doing that and contributing to the team.
“It’s been a really good start to my Glory career, but I’m not going to dwell on it.
“I really want to kick on and improve with the team and help us get plenty of wins.”
Last Sunday’s 1-0 loss to the Wanderers brought the Glory’s run of seven consecutive home wins to a shuddering halt and the former Adelaide and Sydney man said conceding another early goal ultimately cost them.
“Frustration was the biggest emotion after the Wanderers game,” Jamieson said.
“We were all pleased with the way we played in the second half, even if the fact that we didn’t manage to score was really disappointing.
“We’ve gone behind in our last two home games, so that is something we’re going to try and fix. We need to stop making life hard for ourselves.
“We’ve had a look at what we did well against the Wanderers and what we didn’t do well and this week we’re going to go with a fresh mind, a positive outlook and hopefully get a result against Wellington.”
Boosted by last weekend’s resounding 3-0 triumph at Newcastle, however, the Phoenix will head west in a buoyant mood and Jamieson is expecting a testing personal duel with their go-to man Paul Ifill.
“Wellington are a bit like us,” Jamieson said.
“They are a very solid team, they’ve been together for a while and even though they’ve made an indifferent start, they are definitely a team that will come good.
“Ifill is a quality attacker and you always know you’re going to have to have a really good game to keep him quiet.
“He’s a clever player, one of the best in the competition and when you come up against those players you just have to embrace it and do your best.”
On a more embarrassing note, meanwhile, the Glory’s first-choice left-back is hoping to avoid completing a hat-trick of unexplained tumbles.
Twice in as many weeks, with no opposition player in sight, he has somehow managed to lose his balance and end up on the floor before regaining his feet sporting a rueful grin.
“I think it’s got something to do with the pitches or the ball not being pumped up right,” Jamieson joked.
“It’s just one of those things that gives the crowd a laugh, but I’ll be trying to stay on my feet this week.
“I have to get up with a smile on my face because if I looked angry, the boys would take the piss out of me even more.”