Perth Glory defender John Koutroumbis says his team are fired up to prove the doubters wrong as the A-League Men club attempts to snap a 13-month winless run on the road. Glory’s last win away from home came on October 23 last year when they beat Central Coast 2-1. They have gone 13 games without a win on the road since then, including losses to Wellington, Western Sydney and Brisbane this season.
“We want to break that stigma. It’s something we always talk about, especially before games,” Koutroumbis said. He said the team is not feeling sorry for themselves and actually finds the challenge of winning away from home motivating. The 10th-placed Sky Blues have lost their two home games this season, including last week’s 1-0 defeat to Western Sydney. That match marked the second game in charge for new Sydney coach Ufuk Talay following the sacking of Steve Corica.
“We need to win our home games,” Talay said. He believes his team will be dangerous at home and teams will fear coming to play in Sydney. Sydney have lost only two of their past 21 games against Perth, with the Sky Blues winning 16 of those matches and posting three draws in a remarkable run of dominance against Glory.
Koutroumbis said Glory would be wary of Sydney danger duo Robert Mak and Joe Lolley. Sydney will be without forward Jaiden Kucharski due to injury.
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“He’s got a tight hamstring, so we weren’t risking him for this weekend,” Talay said. Glory have lost two games on the trot, but coach Alen Stajcic described last week’s 2-1 defeat to Brisbane as an anomaly due to the terrible shape of the Suncorp Stadium pitch. He said the pitch was basically a mud bath.
The match between Sydney FC and Perth Glory will be played at Allianz Stadium on Saturday.
