After beating Brisbane 4-0, Perth coach Tony Popovic is hoping his side can maintain their A-League dominance heading into a tough run of away games.
Perth Glory coach Tony Popovic briefly let himself enjoy a near-faultless 4-0 win over Brisbane Roar but is prepared for a challenging month for the A-League leaders.
Glory moved nine points clear atop the A-League on Saturday with their thumping win over Brisbane in Perth on the back of two first-half goals to Andy Keogh and one to Jason Davidson, and a second-half goal to Diego Castro.
Perth controlled the game from the outset and barely conceded an opportunity to the Roar, giving Popovic plenty of opportunities to sit back and enjoy what he was seeing.
“This coaching, I’ve been doing it for a little while now and I’m trying to enjoy it more, especially in a game like this,” Popovic said.
“We’ll all reflect on the game and enjoy some of the great passages of play that we showed and the great football we played.
“But then it ends and you have to prepare for your next match and that’s what the job is. Hopefully we can enjoy more good moments at the end of the year.”
Glory are in prime position to claim the club’s first ever Premiers’ Plate, even with upcoming away games to Western Sydney, Melbourne City and Adelaide United, before they are back home to host Melbourne Victory on March 30.
Popovic is confident his team can cope with the draw and says if they get through still clear on top, the premiership is theirs.
“We’ve done very well last week and this week to back it up and now we go on a tough run of away games. Hopefully we are still in a very good position when we come home,” Popovic said.
“The challenges keep coming and we have three away games now that we know will be very difficult. Hopefully our fans will remember this performance and result, and support us while we’re away and be eager to see us when we get back.”
Roar coach Darren Davies tried to pull some positives from Brisbane’s loss as they look to bounce back at Central Coast on Friday.
“They didn’t give in, they kept going and they fought right until the end. We were beaten by a better side so we put our hands up, will dust ourselves down and be ready for next week,” Davies said.
“We go out to win every single game. Last week we did it and this week we were second best, but we take some positives out of it even though we’re hurting. Come Monday we’ll be fully focused to move forward.”
jbinnie
Guest
When oh when is someone in the Roar management structure going to sit up and say "Enough is enough"??????. This display against the league leaders was what everyone one hoped would be a repetition of last week when a hugely under-performing Sydney FC, succumbed to 2 excellent individual goals. Sadly it was not to be and Perth set about to prove their opponents were only a shadow of Roar teams of the past. They did this in a most emphatic manner and 4-0 did not really reflect the domination they showed in outfield play over their young, and not so young, opponents. Roar are playing like a ship without a rudder, simply chasing the ball wherever it may go and the knowing watcher is left to wonder , just what is going on? While it appears to be OK for some to speculate and say ,"so and so is a great prospect" the Roar team is playing as if their 11 players were all "great prospects" but as a team they just don't "gel". A couple of weeks ago the CEO was reported as saying "The club does not have a crisis", well since then the marquee player has moved on, and worse still the CEOs recent companion to Djakarta, to meet with upper management, has also "deserted" the ship, joining Ross Aloisi and Tiatto who were fixtures in the Roar set up these last few years. So does this mass desertion not count as a crisis,not to mention the position in the league table which is probably Roar's worst in years. Come on Roar management , you have around 15,000 loyal fans who are quite prepared to spend good money to watch a team which in fact represents Queensland in the only truly national league in the country, but it has to be a team which can more than hold it's own against the country's best and this game yesterday proved beyond any doubt that this present squad is not capable of doing that important task. It is time for positive action,not just favourable gossip. Cheers jb.