Perth Glory coach Alex Epakis wants his side to treat Saturday’s A-League Women clash with Brisbane like a grand final, but it’s the pre-match entertainment in New Zealand that is likely to be the party pooper.
Glory’s 4-2 loss to ladder leaders Sydney on Wednesday means Perth will need to pull off a Houdini-like act to snare a finals berth.
With just one round remaining, defending champions Melbourne Victory (28 points, plus-seven goal difference) are currently clinging to the fourth and final play-off berth.
Fifth-placed Canberra (28 points, plus-five goal difference) and sixth-placed Perth (25 points, plus-four goal difference) are just behind and fighting for their survival.
Glory will start as favourites against the ninth-placed Roar at Perry Park in Brisbane.
Sunday’s clash between the third-placed Melbourne City and the in-form Canberra looms as an even-money affair.
But Perth’s biggest problem looms when Victory face the bottom-placed Wellington Phoenix in New Zealand on Saturday, just hours before Glory are in action.
Even a draw for Victory in that match would automatically end Glory’s finals hopes, and at the same time render Perth’s clash against Brisbane as a no-stakes affair.
Nevertheless, Epakis wants his players to keep their mind on the job at hand.
“In a sense, we’re going to put on a grand final performance as best as we can,” Epakis said.
“Because if it’s our last game, we want it to be a really good one.
“We want to make sure it’s a performance that reflects the group and reflects the work we’ve done this year.”
Saturday’s match will be Glory’s third in six days across three different states.
“There’s a few sore bodies and a there’s a bit of fatigue in the group,” Epakis said.
“It was always going to be hard to get all the players to play all the minutes this week … but we’ve got the depth to manage it.”
Meanwhile, Brisbane have accepted the three-point penalty handed to them for playing a suspended player in their 2-0 win over Western United on March 11.
Roar captain Ayesha Norrie had earned a one-match suspension after picking up her fourth yellow card of the season on March 4 against the Wellington Phoenix, but played the full game against Western regardless.
Brisbane believed the yellow-card tally reset after 14 rounds, rather than 14 games, and they were considering appealing, but they have now accepted the penalty.
It means that not only was the result reversed with Western handed a 3-0 win, the Roar also received a three-point penalty.
