Adelaide United will play their first home game of the Westfield W-League 2017/18 season this week against the competition’s most in-form side, Perth Glory.
The Reds’ Westfield W-League Head Coach, Ivan Karlovic, said his side felt disappointed after their defeat in Western Sydney, but he is assured that any nerves have vanished and is optimistic that a win can be on the cards at Marden this Friday night.
“We were definitely quite disappointed that we didn’t get something out of the game last week,” Karlovic said.
“I thought we were quite comfortable in large parts of the game, but I thought we got a bit fatigued towards the end of the game and invited in Western Sydney Wanderers’ pressure.
“And unfortunately for us, they were able to convert and score the winner from a deflected free-kick.
“And now that we’ve played our first game, a lot of the players would have gotten those initial nerves out of the way.”
“For this week against Perth Glory, it will be important to play at a high intensity, so we will be able to do that more and we will be better now that we have the experience of the first game.”
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Facing table-toppers Perth Glory, who flattened Brisbane Roar 1-4 last Sunday, Karlovic acknowledges the challenge ahead and said Adelaide will welcome it willingly.
“We will need to continue to work on a number of things but playing last week has definitely brought up our fitness levels and match-conditioning, and I think we’ll be a lot better in that regard.
“We will work on our match tactics during the week to have us fully prepared for the game.
“Perth have been scoring quite freely with the likes of Sam Kerr and Rachel Hill, and have been convincing thus far, so it will be a difficult game as they are obviously the best side in the league at the moment.
“But in saying that, we will meet every challenge head on and this playing group is really special as they are prepared to take those challenges head on and will back themselves until the end.”
A stand-out from last week was Makenzy Doniak, who Karlovic mentioned as a strong team player.
“Makenzy (Doniak) is a top footballer and brings fantastic attributes to the team and I’m sure we will continue to see her grow and become even better as the season goes on,” Karlovic continued.
“I believe we will definitely see goals from her, as well as her ability to get the others involved in scoring.”
Adelaide United will host Perth Glory at Marden Sports Complex for Round 3 of the Westfield W-League 2017/18 season on Friday, 10 November 2017. Kick-off is at 4.50pm ACDT.
