The cue is close to being put on the rack. Three games remaining and an eight point deficit to the top six, the only thing the Glory are playing for is pride, and not finishing on the bottom again.
Four draws in the last five have sealed their fate. In those matchups, the team has performed well enough to pick up points, but nowhere near good enough to win those matches, which is what they needed to do to stay within reach of the finals race.
Mathematically, it will be over today if Melbourne City win. If they don’t, the Glory have to win to retain any sliver of the faintest hope imaginable of pulling off the ultimate miracle.
Macarthur are firmly entrenched in the race for sixth, bouncing back after three consecutive defeats to find wins against the top two sides in Newcastle and Auckland.
All the Glory can do at this point is spoil the party. They’re not in the hunt, but they could play a decisive role in who makes it to knockout football.
What are the Bulls’ strengths and weaknesses?
After a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Victory, Mile Sterjovski went back to the drawing board and moved the magnets around, switching to five in defence.
The extra defender has slightly helped shore up their leaky backline. After conceding eleven in the three consecutive losses, only three were conceded in the recent back-to-back wins.
At the other end, the avenue to goal is pretty clear. The five most recent goals have all comefrom a cross into the box.
The Bulls possess some threatening aerial targets in the form of Mitch Duke and Rafael Duran, who combined for the opening goal against the Jets. They would both go on to score headers later in the game.
Brian Kaltak and Scott Wootton are in for a challenge with Duke, who presents an obvious danger in the air but is just as lethal with his right foot inside the box.
On the attacking front, getting in behind the Bulls central defenders might be the way to go. It’s how the Jets got their opening goal through Xavier Bertoncello last week.
Adam Taggart and Jaiden Kucharski have the speed advantage over the likes of Damien Da Silva and Tomi Uskok. If the Glory can find the gaps and break through the lines, they will get their opportunities on goal.
How’s the mentality?
Adam Griffiths praised the mentality of his group in his pre-match press conference, calling it strong and lauding the attacking improvements he’s seen in the last couple of weeks.
The first 20 minutes against the Mariners was some of the most promising football the Glory have played all season, going 2-0 up courtesy of a Seb Despotovski header and a well-worked team goal finished with aplomb by Adam Taggart.
Turning that 20 minute burst into a full half and a full game is the next step in the Glory’s progression. On too many occasions we’ve seen them play good football for short periods, followed by average football for longer spells.
With nothing major at stake for the remaining matches, maybe the fans will get to see more freedom of expression from the squad. Ending the season on a positive note is important for the fans who have stood by the team for what’s been another underwhelming campaign.
The DT38 match provided one of the biggest highlights of last season in the form of a 4-1 win and a Jaylan Pearman double. Exactly a year on, a repeat would be a sweet way to cap off the weekend.
Predicted lineup
Despotovski – Taggart
Colakovski – Pennington – De Abreu – Kucharski
Sutton – Wootton – Kaltak – Shamoon
Sutton
All images courtesy of Tom McCarthy.
