A-League grand final: Win that showed Perth Glory’s spine of steel

Tony Popovic’s Perth Glory have consistently overcome any hurdles placed in front of them this season.

Perth Glory coach Tony Popovic at Optus Stadium. Picture: Getty Images

It was just two weeks into the season and even with a coach of the calibre of Tony Popovic at the helm, scepticism still far outweighed expectation over a long-awaited revival for Perth Glory.

A 1-1 draw with Western Sydney, the club Popovic once coached, in the opening round gave little sign of what awaited the A-League’s perennial under­achievers this season.

But after Glory’s last gasp 3-2 win over Melbourne Victory, on the defending champions’ home turf in the second game of the season, Popovic quietly allowed himself to think just maybe something special was brewing.

Having led 2-0 only to see Victory claw back to 2-2, Glory needed a 90th-minute goal from Chris Ikonomidis to seal the win that would set them on their way and make the fans sit up and take notice. The result, and the manner in which they kept going to the end, clearly bore Popovic’s imprint.

Now, 204 days after that win and with the Premiers Plate trophy on display in the cabinet, destiny awaits the West Australians and Popovic in tomorrow’s A-League grand final against Sydney FC at Optus Stadium.

WEB A league soccer grand final

A giant of the game in the ­National Soccer League when they won two championships, success in the A-League era has been much harder for Perth to come by for a variety of reasons, much of it because of their own doing.

It is fair to say the club have flattered to deceive.

But with home ground advantage, a close to sold-out stadium of 60,000 behind them and enjoying the luxury of not having to travel, Glory will go in strong favourites to win their first A-League championship and their first national title in 16 years.

Glory and Popovic set the bar high from the fourth round onwards, climbing to the top of the table and holding their nerve all the way through the rest of the regular season despite having Sydney FC on their tail for much of it.

Popovic told The Weekend Australian: “Along the way you are thinking: ‘Let’s see if they can continue with this’. The challenges were there.

“From round four, we were first and everyone was waiting to see when the stumble would come, when someone could close the gap and put pressure on us.

“But they just kept seeing through those challenges. They embraced them, they dealt with them and they dealt with another one last Friday night (in the penalty shootout win over Adelaide United).

“They have had their ups and downs and got knocked down but they recovered well each time.

“I saw that in the win against Melbourne Victory when they came back to score that goal in the dying minute.”

Popovic believes the fact the team overcame the barriers put in front of them will hold them in good stead tomorrow, against a rival for whom he has a great deal of respect.

“I have a chance with this great group of players to experience a win. I’m looking forward to it,” he said.

“We’ll do everything we can in terms of our preparation to have the players ready to step out and produce the performances that I’ve been seeing every day at training and in games.

“If we do that, I’m very confident that we’ll get the outcome that we want.”

Sydney will not go down wondering, though you sense we could be seeing the dying embers of a squad that has achieved so much over the past four or five years: three grand final appearances, two Premiers Plates, a championship and an FFA Cup.

Captain Alex Brosque has announced his retirement and will in all likelihood be playing his last game in the sky blue colours even if there is one more Asian Champions League match to come on Tuesday.

Loan signings Danny De Silva and Siem de Jong are unlikely to stay on and there are doubts also about the future of midfielder Josh Brillante.

Milos Ninkovic and Alex Wilkinson will play on next season but neither is getting any younger.

There will be a lot of food for thought for Sydney FC coach Steve Corica, but that will come after ­tomorrow’s game.

The Sydney squad flew to Perth yesterday morning, a day earlier than usual. They will train on the Optus Stadium pitch tomorrow to a get a feel of the new venue.

Corica believes the fact Perth don’t use it as their regular home ground ( they use the much smaller HBF Stadium) could play into his team’s hands.

“I think it provides a more level playing field for us to be honest,” Corica said. “They haven’t played on it (apart from a friendly against Chelsea last year).”