They may have gone down twice to Melbourne Victory this season but Sam Kerr feels her Perth Glory side aren’t too far away from getting one over the team in navy blue when they kick-off the Westfield W-League Finals Series on Sunday.
Victory secured the Premiership with a 2-1 win over the Glory in Perth last week and they will face each other once again in the semi-final at AAMI Park.
BACKGROUND: What is rebel Play Football Round?
STORY SO FAR: Perth’s run to the Westfield W-League Finals Series
WHERE I’M FROM: Olympians and latecomers: Celebrating Play Football Round
PREVIEW: Victory v Glory
Despite having been beaten 2-1 on both occasions this campaign, Kerr believes her side are close to a breakthrough against the Victorian club.
“It’s a final, it’s going to be a bit heated, I think Melbourne like to play rough so we know what we’re up for,” Kerr told perthglory.com.au.
“I thought we competed really well on the weekend it just didn’t go our way but both games we’ve felt really confident and felt like if there were five more minutes in each game we would have come back.”
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Perth will be aiming to qualify for their second Grand Final in the space of three years after finishing fourth and seeing off a late challenge from Melbourne City.
Kerr, who finished as the Golden Boot winner with 13 goals in 11 appearances, said her teammates were determined to go one better in 2019.
“I thought the regular season for us as a team was a bit up and down, we were always in the top four or thereabouts but we didn’t have the best results away from home,” she said.
“We feel like we have unfinished business with the whole league, we’ve been to the Final twice now and lost it so this year’s our year hopefully.”
At 25 years of age and with a wealth experience at both club and international level; there isn’t much the Westfield Matildas striker hasn’t seen throughout her career to date.
That being said, any knockout game has the potential to cause a few jitters.
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“Obviously there’s a little bit of nerves but I think it’s really the anticipation that kills you, just waiting around for game day,” Kerr admitted.
“You’re just kind of thinking what’s at stake, you treat it as a normal week and try not to think too much but at the end of the day there is a final on the line and it’s do or die so you just try to fine tune things…I just try and stay calm and treat it like any other game but at the end of the day it is quite nerve-wracking.”
