After two away matches, Perth Glory returned home to win its first game of the Hyundai A-League season and coach Dave Mitchell hopes it can kick-start the Glory’s 2009/10 campaign.
Perth made a host of key signings in the off-season suggesting it was serious about rising up the A-League ladder, but two losses on the road to Adelaide and Wellington wasn’t the ideal start.
However, the Glory looked good in beating Newcastle 2-0 on Sunday at ME Bank Stadium in front of over 9000 fans and Mitchell is confident it will transpire into some continued good form.
“When you look at the games they were tough ones on the road to kick off the season, particularly when we haven’t had the players from overseas together for too long,” Mitchell said.
“I always knew that potentially we could have lost both games, but we did well in Wellington and only lost from a deflection. We are trying to create good football and capitalise on our opportunities, and that’s what we’ve got to do now.”
“This kick-started our season now and it’s a bit of a relief for all the players. It took a lot of hard work because the pitch was very soft and heavy with the amount of rain we had, but we have the three points now and are looking forward to a tough game against Melbourne.”
The Glory showed good chemistry with positioning and covering for one another considering they have spent little time together as a group, with the combinations of Scott Neville and Adriano Pellegrino, and Victor Sikora and Mile Sterjovski particularly impressive.
“We’ve got players that are quite interchangeable and if one makes a forward run the other drops in for him. There are times when Scott Neville gets caught forward and Pellegrino drops into right back for him, so we always try to do that,” he said.
“Once everyone gets fit there will be competition for places and Victor played very well. He’s not just a technically good player, he works his socks off and I was pleased for him to do well.”
While Mitchell was happy with much of what he saw in the win over the Jets, he does see areas needing improvement and that will have to come this Friday night at home to the Melbourne Victory.
“Some of our combination play can get better. Melbourne are quite formidable, have two great strikers and tend to sit back to hit you back on the counter,” he said.
“They play a lot of diagonal balls in behind and that’s what we have to be careful of. We need to be solid at the back and don-t concede. As long as we stay in the game with Melbourne we will be a chance.”
“North Queensland played very well against them and it was a sucker punch that got them when they were trying to dominate, and got caught out. Melbourne is a very astute side and can also play good football at times, so you have to be careful.”
Perth fans also supported the team well with 9398 turning up to watch the game with the Jets despite some wet weather and an AFL game at Subiaco at the same time, and Mitchell is hoping for an even better turnout against the Victory on Friday.
“As long as it doesn’t rain. Every game we’ve played at home in the last five or six has rained, which is unfortunate. We got a good crowd here, though, and we have to build on that,” he said.
