Harnwell confident Glory run can continue
Coach Jamie Harnwell is confident Perth Glory Women can continue their record start to the Westfield W-League season against Adelaide United tomorrow despite the absence of two star players.
Matildas duo Samantha Kerr and Collette McCallum will miss the Round 7 match in Adelaide, where national striker Kate Gill will make her 50th W-League appearance.
Kerr, who was ruled out before last weekend’s game against former club Sydney FC, continues to recover from her hamstring injury and McCallum, who had a knee injury last season, has been rested.
But Harnwell is confident Glory have the depth to cover for their absence.
“It’s obviously disappointing to be missing players like Sam and Collette, but we showed last week that we can cover the loss of any player,” he said.
“Gabe Marzano stepped in last week and did very well, and we will be looking for a similar performance from whoever replaces Collette this weekend.
“We’re hopeful of Sam being fit for next week’s game (away to Melbourne Victory). For Collette, it’s just a case of managing her through the season.
“We need to be careful she isn’t overloaded and with the flight plus playing on an artificial surface we felt this was a good time for her to have a rest.”
Adelaide had a 3-2 victory over Canberra United last weekend and will be aiming for another three points against a Glory side which has set a new W-League standard.
Glory’s run of six successive victories is the best start to a W-League season by any club, surpassing Canberra United’s five wins and a draw at the start of the 2011-12 season. But Harnwell is paying little attention to the record books.
“Adelaide are going to be chock full of confidence,” he said. “They made it difficult for us here and we had to be very professional to grind out the win.
“Going to their home ground I expect them to try and press us and make a statement of intent early, but if we continue to play as we have been we are confident we can come away with the result.”
Gill, who has played 39 Glory games, started her W-League career with Newcastle Jets, where she made 10 appearances.
