I knew this season was going to be extremely tough on the Glory, but I didn’t expect it to keep knocking us back like it has so far in 2022.
It’s been setback after setback. After six weeks of no fixtures when COVID-19 first hit the squad in early December, we were sent back to square one.
We then found out the February 5 border reopening had been postponed, keeping the squad over east and leaving them in limbo about a return home to WA.
The fantastic win over Sydney FC had me in a great mood, and then the Macarthur game got called off when multiple players tested positive.
We got the news on Friday that two more games have been postponed. I won’t lie, it’s becoming more difficult to be optimistic about our season when things like this keep halting the momentum of this relatively young side.
If there is one really big positive to come out of the season thus far, it is witnessing the young talent who are getting opportunities to perform in Richard Garcia’s side, and we saw more of them on Wednesday night.
Without Bruno Fornaroli or Brandon O’Neill against a Western Sydney Wanderers side with new manager Mark Rudan at the helm for his first game in charge, I thought a draw would have been a good result.
While that didn’t pan out in the end and the result wasn’t what we would have liked, I was relatively happy with the performance we put out against the Wanderers.
It was a shame our best chance of the 90 came very early on, with Antonee Burke-Gilroy’s cross finding Adrian Sardinero, who couldn’t get enough contact to trouble Tomas Mejias in the Wanderers goal.
It was our only clear-cut chance of the match, and one of just four shots we had on goal. Richard Garcia mentioned it in his post-match press conference, we just didn’t have the killer instinct in the final third and couldn’t execute the final pass in our build-up play.
With no Fornaroli to hold the ball up, on many occasions our defence or midfield would play long balls over the top or go for the through ball in behind the WSW defence, trying to utilise Andy Keogh’s aerial strength and forward runs.
I did think there were times when we tried too hard to create an opening. Rather than going for the ambitious through ball, we could have built up the play a bit more slowly and forced WSW to defend for longer.
Their defensive pressure was very good throughout the game, but I thought we were good at dealing with that when we had the ball. Callum Timmins and Josh Rawlins in particular were great at remaining calm under pressure when in possession.
I love the passion Timmins’ shows in the middle of the park and the fact he isn’t afraid to get stuck in. We saw it in an exchange he had with Alessandro Diamanti last season and it happened with Bernie Ibini on Wednesday. It’s great to see and I’ve got a feeling Neil Kilkenny may have taught him a thing or two before his departure.
Once again defensively it was one slip up that proved costly. Osama Malik and Jonathan Aspropotamitis both covered the run of Tomer Hemed, leaving Jack Rodwell near the penalty spot to take a touch and put the ball into the bottom left corner.
I was worried that after conceding in less than half an hour, we might get blown away and concede three or four. To the credit of the team, we managed to remain solid and keep ourselves in the game until the very end.
From a Wanderers perspective, there is reason to be positive. The new manager bump came into effect immediately, with the effort and desire clear to see for the fans who turned out at CommBank Stadium.
Ziggy Gordon started his first game in this A-League campaign and it made me wonder why. His class and experience were key at the heart of the Wanderers defence.
Keanu Baccus played a very good game in midfield and Jack Rodwell was fantastic after being named captain of the side for this match. We’ll see if they can back it up against Western United on the weekend.
We’ll have to wait at least another week before seeing the Glory in action again. We’re currently slated to be facing the Mariners on Sunday the 13th.
Overall, I thought our performance was alright given the players we had missing and our less-than-ideal preparation heading into the game. On a quick note, it was pleasantly surprising to see Rawlins handed the captains armband by Andy Keogh when he was substituted. It’s good to see Richard Garcia putting a lot of faith in his young homegrown players.
With our luck, we might not be on the pitch in just over a weeks’ time. I’m hopeful that’s not the case because we need to keep playing games and getting wins, and I think we’re a decent chance of doing that against the Central Coast.
About the Author
