Glory remain focused on young direction

Perth Glory continued their development under Alistair Edwards last night with a 2-1 win over Sydney FC which keeps alive their slim hopes of playing finals football. 

Goals from Chris Harold and Shane Smeltz either side of an Alessandro Del Piero wonder goal gave Glory a win that sees them now just three points off sixth spot with four games remaining.

“I thought at times we played a really good brand of attacking football” said Edwards afterwards.

“We’re looking to try and do that for the whole ninety minutes so that’s a work in progress, but reasonably pleased with the way things went and it’s always good to get a win at home in front of a really good boisterous crowd.”

Edwards has been gradually changing the mentality of the side since he took over, introducing different strings to their bow in a bid to keep the opposition guessing.

One of those is a short corner routine which was used a number of times during the game and yielded the second goal when Scott Jamieson crossed for Smeltz to finish.

“We’re gradually introducing those types of elements into the game,” said Edwards.

“We want to mix things up because we need to try and see if we can provoke teams, try and change their pattern of play, and change what they’re expecting of us so we’ll be doing those similar kind of things as we go through.”

Glory’s task was aided by the dismissal of Sydney defender Fabio for two yellow card offences, but Edwards was quick to point out that being a man up isn’t necessarily an advantage.

“It’s difficult to play against ten men sometimes, often because the game changes quite a bit,” he said.

“I would have liked us to have controlled the game, particularly for the last 15/20 minutes better than we but in saying that it’s a work in progress and that will take time.”

Youngster Daniel De Silva made history when he became the youngest player to debut for Glory, replacing Matias Cordoba just after the hour mark.

“I think he enjoyed it, he’s got a massive smile on his face now,” said Edwards of the 15 year old.

“His first touch was a crunching tackle so welcome to the Hyundai A-League, but he’ll be ok.

“We’re going to introduce players like Danny over the next four or five games but we also want to have a balanced approach.”

The focus on youth is set to continue, with Edwards confirming that an announcement will be made over the next week concerning two other players who were involved in the match day preparations up to and including the pre-game warm up.