It’s a foregone conclusion at this stage. Finals football won’t be featuring Perth on both the men’s and women’s fronts, again.
The last time either made it beyond the regular season was pre-COVID. Back when Diego Castro and Sam Kerr were the spearheads of their respective sides.
Freefall is the apt word to describe the club’s on-field work since the pandemic hit. New owners have come in, as have many players and a couple of managers, but no one has been able to turn around the fortunes of this once great powerhouse.
It would take the most miraculous turnaround for the Glory to sneak into the six. They need to win their remaining four games, and require other results to go in their favour.
Given they’re winless from their last seven, it’s almost an impossibility. It could be officially over as soon as Tuesday, if they were to lose to the Mariners and the Mariners go on to defeat Melbourne City.
The women’s side had finals in their hands, but have let it slip in the last three weeks. They need to win, the Mariners to lose and to make up a goal difference of 10.
On the final weekend of A-League Women’s action, and as we arrive at the final month of the A-League Men’s, let’s dive into the questions.
Another youthful midfield battle: who wins?
In the previous meeting between these sides at HBF Park, Tom Lawrence ran the show in a convincing 3-0 win for the Glory.
Since then, the directions both clubs have taken are the exact opposite of what would’ve been expected after that match. The Glory have gone backwards, whilst the Mariners found their groove and are right in the mix to take the last finals spot.
The arrival of Chris Donnell into the midfield has been one of the igniters of the positive upswing for the Central Coast. The 22-year-old has suffered one defeat in nine since signing in January, and it came last time out against a strong Victory outfit.
With Alfie McCalmont ruled out, more of the midfield responsibility will fall on the shoulders of Donnell and Haine Eames, the 18-year-old who has started three of the last four matches.
Will Freney and Giovanni De Abreu are similar profiles to their Mariners counterparts. Defensive ability is their strength more so than their passing or shooting.
It should make for a tight and physical battle in the middle of the park at Polytec Stadium, which will be tough for both of the midfield pairings.
Have the shackles been released for Taggart?
Six games without a goal is a long time for a striker of Adam Taggart’s quality. The pressure of becoming the Glory’s all-time A-League leading goalscorer had gotten to him, but in the moment when his club needed him to find that record breaking goal, he delivered.
In the grand scheme of things for the team, the 91st minute equaliser won’t be of major significance to the Glory’s season. On an individual level, it means a lot to a player who grew up in Perth, dreaming of one day wearing the purple in front of The Shed.
Now the record is broken and solely his, and the weight has been lifted off his shoulders, it could mean the natural goalscoring instincts kick back in for the man who has made a habit of scoring on a regular basis throughout his career.
As it stands, four goals would be Taggart’s least in a season for the Glory since 2011/12, when he was first arriving onto the scene and only featured four times.
This season, it has been hard to come by. But maybe with his name now etched in history, and seemingly clear of injuries which have curtailed some of his season, we’ll see his full capabilities in the run home.
And for the Glory girls…
Can they end their season on a high?
Oh what could have been. Sitting in fifth with four games to go, the Glory girls went to Adelaide for the start of their run home and took an early lead through Rola Badawiya.
It has unfortunately gone downhill since then. They went on to lose to the Reds 2-1, could only manage a scoreless draw with the Mariners at home and then, in the most important game of their season, they were taken to the cleaners by Brisbane in a 5-2 rout.
After going 2-0 down due to an error at the back, the Glory girls got one back on the stroke of half time and then equalised inside the first five minutes of the second half.
Then, an interception in their own half led to the third and a free kick from distance shortly after put the game out of the reach.
As mentioned earlier, an absolute miracle would have to occur for Stephen Peters side to make it now.
Their opponents, Melbourne Victory, have it all on the line. If they win and the Mariners fail to beat Sydney FC, they will pinch a finals spot.
The best the Glory girls can hope for is to finish seventh and miss out on goal difference. The stakes aren’t as high for them, but they should endeavour to come out swinging. On Good Friday, a win for the Glory girls would be great.
Predicted lineup
Kucharski – Taggart
Pennington – Freney – De Abreu – Colakovski
Sutton – Wootton – Kaltak – Shamoon
Sutton
All images courtesy of Tom McCarthy.
