Perth boss Kenny Lowe has revealed the secret behind Chris Harold’s incredible scoring run as Glory’s Hyundai A-League finals charge shows no sign of slowing down.
Glory made it four wins in a row and moved within a win of the top six after disposing of Sydney FC 2-1 at Allianz Stadium on Saturday.
MATCH REPORT: Glory flying after win over Sky Blues
Andy Keogh scored a simple opener for the visitors before Harold added the match-sealer midway through the second half.
After struggling in front of goal for much of his A-League career, Harold has now scored five in as many games and is finally adding a cutting-edge to his outstanding talent.
“We were speaking with Chris and he was getting a little bit upset [about not scoring],” Lowe said.
“We were saying to him, ‘look, to score a goal you’ve got to do 10 things. You’re doing nine things fantastic and the final little bit at the finish is the only thing that’s missing’.
“His movement, his desire to get in the box, his ethic, his quality. And he’s worked on it.
“We’ve actually brought someone in [former Perth player Branko Jelic] to work with him on a one-on-one basis. Since the guy’s been in he’s scored five in five, so I think we’ll keep doing that.”
Glory’s finals hopes seemed a pipe-dream a month ago but on current form look a certainty to be involved come April.
But Lowe insists there’s been no magic formula, just a reward for their efforts.
“It’s not me, it’s the group. We’ve got a good group. I’ve said it for the last 12 games, I’m probably become a bit repetitive and boring but we were putting performances in but weren’t quite getting the things we deserved,” the Glory boss said.
“Maybe when we drew we should have won, maybe when we lost we should have drew. But now we’re getting what we deserve – and we deserved that today.
“We set up really well, we were pragmatic, difficult to break down and very efficient when we got in the box. There’s no qualms about what we did today.”
Glory’s Central defenders Alex Grant and Shane Lowry were superb, while Diego Castro also put in another strong display.
But the visitors didn’t have a bad player across the park, with Lowe believing the good times are ready to return in the west after the tumult of last season.
“We had a tough time last year with who we lost. I look at every player that’s left, and they’re all in the top three teams. They’re all top players, fantastic players and we’ve lost them,” he said.
“But we’re starting to slowly replace and build again, so it’s an exciting time at our club at the moment.
“Hopefully we can keep it exciting and kick on, and maybe surprise a few people. You never know, you never say never do you?”
