Melbourne City keeper excelled in Semi Final with Sydney – now a move overseas seems to be in the works, writes Tom Smithies
The time is now for Tom Glover – for a match-saving stop, for a reminder of his quality, and for a move to Europe to take the next step in his career.
Melbourne City’s goalkeeper is the reason his side goes into the second leg of the Semi Final on level terms, and he deserves the plaudits for an incredible double save to deny Sydney FC.
But it was a moment with wider implications than just the balance of power in this tie, and showed the mettle of a footballer whose character has been tested over the past 18 months.
Glover’s first save in the dying moments of the first half here was strong enough, deflecting away Anthony Caceres’s shot with his foot, but the deflection towards Robert Mak seemed certain to allow the Slovakian striker the chance to score.
For a second the game seemed to move in slow motion as Glover leapt across his six-yard box and got a palm behind Mak’s shot to deny the hosts an equaliser.
The night should have become one of the best of his professional life when Glover produced another fine save to save Caceres’s penalty in the second half; it was hardly his fault that Callum Talbot had run into the penalty area too quickly, and forced a retake from which Sydney scored.
But the way Glover stood up in the biggest moments was telling, for last season tested his self-belief like nothing before. A goalkeeper who had come through Tottenham’s youth system, had been coveted by A-League clubs and earned a starting role at the Olympics suddenly found his form deserting him.
“Last year, I was miles off the pace,” Glover admitted candidly after this game had finished. “To be honest, I wasn’t happy with myself and I took time in the off season to kind of strip (everything) back.
“There’s a good saying, just meat and potatoes – just do the basics. I think your off-season sets up your pre-season, then your pre-season set up your season, so for me it was coming in day one and putting my head down, working hard. It’s nice to see the results paying off.”
There is still work for him to do; time waits for no man and particularly no goalkeeper. While Glover was struggling last year it was Adelaide’s Joe Gauci who pushed ahead as the heir apparent to Mat Ryan et al in the Socceroos. Given Glover’s displays at the Olympics, it was hard for him to watch.
“Definitely, that’s a goal of mine and it always has been – being at the Olympic Games, you get a taste of it and the next step after that was the Socceroos,” he said.
“So that’s my goal and I want to be a part of that set up. Ultimately, I’ve got to do well here to get a look in for that. So it’s go back to training on Sunday and see what happens.”
Quite where “here” will be in the coming months remains to be seen – Glover has been strongly linked with a move overseas and seemed to confirm that it will happen in the off-season. A goalkeeper who previously played in England as a teenager now has to back himself in bidding to establish himself as a first-choice keeper somewhere in Europe.
“I think it’s come out now (about a move) and my ambition is to go overseas,” he said. “Obviously if I’m playing over there, it puts me in good stead with the Socceroos.
“So like I said, it’s one game at a time. If I do well here, the rest takes care of itself. For now it’s back to training on Sunday, head down and we go again next week.”
