Glory keen to bounce back from ALW draw disappointment

Perth Glory coach Alex Epakis hopes his team’s slip-up against Western Sydney will give them the kick they need to gatecrash the A-League Women finals.

Glory’s four-match winning streak was brought to a halt when they conceded an 80th-minute penalty in last week’s 1-1 draw with the struggling Wanderers.

The result left Glory – who have played a game fewer – four points adrift of fourth-placed Melbourne Victory with five fixtures remaining.

That gap can be reduced to a single point if Perth win at Adelaide on Saturday.

Epakis feels the two points his team let slip last week have given them extra fire in the belly.

“It could be a motivating factor now to get us back up and going, and finding another level,” he said.

“There was a little bit of a sour taste in our mouth after that result, but we’re still six undefeated and in a healthy position.

“I’m certainly backing the players to go one step further this weekend.”

Adelaide started the season with a bang, winning four of their first five games.

But they have drastically fallen out of the finals reckoning since then, on the back of a nine-match winless run which has featured seven losses and two draws.

Adelaide beat Glory 1-0 in Perth in round two, and Epakis is taking nothing for granted ahead of Saturday’s re-match.

“Adelaide are a team that I respect,” he said.

“They’re well coached, they’re a cohesive team that have some really strong players, and they have a clear structure in how they play.

“I know they might not have the form at the moment that they’d like, but they do have players that can do damage.

“We just have to make sure we’re well prepared for it.

“It was a tight tussle earlier in the season when we played against them and they got the better of us, so we’re going to do our best to overturn the result this weekend.”

Adelaide will be without Danish forward Hannah Holgersen after she injured her right knee in last week’s 4-2 loss to Canberra.