Perth Glory captain Mustafa Amini is confident that a glut of home games will help his team charge up the A-League Men ladder, but first he wants to take three points from Adelaide.
Glory were forced to play their first five matches of the A-League Men season away from home, and they’ll be on foreign territory yet again on Monday when they take on Adelaide at Coopers Stadium.
The tough run of fixtures has played a big part in Glory sitting last on the ladder with just two wins and a draw to show from eight games.
But following Monday’s clash with Adelaide, Glory will play seven of their next eight games at Macedonia Park.
Amini is looking forward to the run of games at home, but for now he has his eyes on snaring the win against Adelaide.
“I believe in this group, and as a group we believe in each other,” Amini said.
“We’ll give Adelaide a good run and hopefully steal three points from them … and then we’ve got a long run of games at home.
“They’re big games against big teams, but they’re coming to Perth, and they’ll be in for it.”
Adelaide have lost to Wellington and Newcastle in the past fortnight and they are desperate to bounce back with a win against Glory.
Reds captain Craig Goodwin looms as the man to stop for Glory, but coach Ruben Zadkovich is well aware of Adelaide’s other threats.
“One of their key threats is definitely Craig. I spent a lot of time with him at Newcastle when he was a young up and coming player,” Zadkovich said.
“He’s got a huge belief in himself and his ability. We’ll have to be aware of his threats and set up well as a collective to nullify him.
“But they’re a good side, they have other talented players.
“Ben Halloran is a fantastic player going forward, Hiroshi Ibusuki can be a real handful, especially in and around the box.
“They’ve got two very good holding midfielders in Isaias and Juande. They’re a strong side.
“We know they’ve got threats, we know how they play. It’s about us and it has to be about how well we defend as a collective.”
.