Perth Glory coach Ian Ferguson has played down talk of revenge for last year’s grand final loss after his team’s 1-0 win over the Brisbane Roar on Sunday.
Perth Glory coach Ian Ferguson has played down talk of revenge for last year’s grand final loss after his team’s 1-0 win over the Brisbane Roar on Sunday.
The Glory lost 2-1 to Brisbane in last season’s championship decider when Besart Berisha was awarded a controversial late penalty.
The Albanian international was consistently booed throughout the fiery rematch at Patersons Stadium and involved in several skirmishes with Glory players.
But Ferguson said he made a point of ensuring his team was not distracted by the thought of retribution.
“Today was all about three points and getting a good start in the league,” Ferguson said.
“I think that’s the second time in eight years that we’ve come away with a win first game, which is great.”
“People are going to talk about revenge, but revenge is when you’ve got the cup in your hand. This was three points today.”
Both teams squandered several opportunities earlier in the game before Billy Mehmet came off the bench and got between Brisbane defenders Matt Jurman and Matt Smith to head home the 89th-minute winner.
Feguson said Mehmet was unlucky to start on the bench, but the team operated a formation with only one striker.
“It was difficult to leave Billy out because he’s such a quality player and (Steve) McGarry technically in that area can cause them more problems,” he said.
“With Billy and (Shane Smeltz), you’ve always got it in your head that they can change games.
“They can do that in a heartbeat and Billy Mehmet did it today for us, and Smetltzy’s done that before as well.
“Putting Billy on, fresh legs, getting in the box was what we were looking for and that’s what he did and credit to (Scott) Jamieson getting up and down the line so late on and putting a fantastic cross in and Billy met it perfectly.”
Mehmet is likely to start for Perth next week against Central Coast Mariners in Gosford with Smeltz away on international duty with New Zealand.
Jamieson was reported to be feeling ill after the win, but is expected to recover in time for next week.
Ferguson said there were a couple of other knocks in the squad that he would keep to himself.
