Perth Glory coach Ian Ferguson has backed his side to take all three points against Newcastle Jets on Saturday, even without inspirational skipper Jacob Burns and talismanic striker Shane Smeltz.
Perth Glory coach Ian Ferguson has backed his side to take all three points against Newcastle Jets on Saturday, even without inspirational skipper Jacob Burns and talismanic striker Shane Smeltz.
Burns could be out for up to a month after suffering a quadriceps tear in training on Wednesday, while Smeltz is still recovering from a hamstring injury.
Ferguson, however, has faith that their replacements can steer the Glory back into the winners’ circle following last week’s controversial defeat at Sydney FC.
“We’re at home and we’ve got a good squad with players who can come in and do a good job,” he said.
“There’s no doubt about that. I believe that this squad is good enough to go on and take the three points.”
Billy Mehmet will continue to deputise for Smeltz in attack, but Ferguson refused to be drawn on who will come in for Burns.
Although Nick Ward is favourite to get the nod, Chris Harold and Adrian Zahra are also in the frame to make what would be their first starts of the season.
“We’ll be trying a few things when the cameras are off and we’ll see what happens,” he said.
“Nick Ward has done a tremendous job since he’s been here.
“In the last four games he’s come on and made a huge impact off the bench and also little Harold has come on and done a great job as well.
“Zahra was unfortunate to miss out last week, so I’ve been really pleased with the personnel that hasn’t been getting as much game time and we’re going to have to make a change, so one of them will be playing.”
Travis Dodd, meanwhile, will be handed the skipper’s armband, with Bas van den Brink coming in for the suspended Steve Pantelidis in what is likely to be the only other change to Glory’s starting XI.
And Ferguson is hoping for a similar performance to that which his side produced during the opening hour of last week’s game at ANZ Stadium.
“The manner in which we played against Sydney in controlling the game and keeping the ball and getting our wide players involved and our full-backs forward is how I’ve always wanted to play,” he said.
“We’ve got to maintain that and be a little bit more ruthless in front of goal and make sure that when we have that amount of possession and domination, there’s an end product.
“Credit to the boys, I’ve been really pleased with the manner in which we’ve played, it’s just those little mistakes that we’re getting punished for.”
Any such mistakes at nib Stadium on Saturday night are likely to be punished by Jets marquee Emile Heskey and Ferguson acknowledged that his side will have to be at their best to shackle the man who already has four Hyundai A-League goals to his name.
“We have to make sure we do our homework and snuff out the supply to him from the wider areas and that’s something we’ve been working on,” said Ferguson.
“We also need to make sure that when we’re marking Emile, we don’t give him too much room.
“He’s big, strong and powerful, he gets on the end of things as we’ve seen and he can also link up with play from midfield.
“We know what type of player he is and he’s going to be a danger and we’ve got to make sure we’re alert to that.”
