As the old Perth Glory anthem belted out around the ground on Sunday, there was a quick joke in the media section of the nib stadium grandstand that nothing would possibly go wrong now that the old Steve Armstrong song was being played again. As a regular feature of the club’s NSL heyday (and a strong feature of my own childhood memories of the club) there’s a certain sense of pride and well, glory, associated with that tune. By the end of the match though, that aforementioned joke was looking more like prophecy as Glory ran out comfortable winners against a distinctly lacklustre Adelaide United side. Central to the victory were two new faces, Irish-English-Turkish Cypriot striker Billy Mehmet and Brazilian livewire Andrezinho.

The first 45 minutes of the game was nothing short of an exhibition from the Glory’s new South American winger – all of the home team’s early chances seemed to come through his foot skills and driving runs into the box. By the time he crossed the ball to the far post and Shane Smeltz somehow managed to slide in and put the ball wide, the crowd knew they were in for some entertainment on the left-hand flank. The unfortunate Daniel Mullen was pulled to and fro by the 26 year old, and ended up on his backside on more than one occasion; finally being replaced in the first half after tweaking a hamstring. His replacement fared little better as Travis Dodd, Mehmet and Smeltz took turns to fail to capitalise on the little man’s darting runs and raking crosses. In the second half it took the Glory a little while to get going – and it’s no surprise that part of that was down to ‘Andre’ slowly running out of steam after a huge effort in the initial 45. Realistically – and I doubt many supporters on either side would disagree – he could have had two or three assists if it wasn’t for some poor finishing from his teammates.

Meanwhile, ‘Big Billy’ Mehmet kept running for the whole game – and when I say running, I don’t just mean jogging slowly around the penalty area. In stark contrast to what fans saw with Robbie Fowler last year, Mehmet put the hard yards in all match long, dropping deep to receive balls and at times essentially becoming another midfielder as he scrapped for possession. There was one memorable moment in the dying minutes of the game where the former St Mirren man ran from just outside the Adelaide penalty box to the left full back position just to pressure and harry the Reds player in possession of the ball. It was the kind of effort that wins fans over on the spot, something above and beyond the call of a central forward. Glory have had strikers in the past willing to put the same amount of effort in – James Robinson and Michael Baird come to mind – but the difference is, as Billy showed on Sunday, Perth’s new man has the talent to actually stick the ball in the back of the net too. Mehmet also showed that he has surprisingly good touch for a man of his stature, as he fed the ball to Liam Miller, Andrezinho and strike partner Smeltz on several occasions.

But while Mehmet and Andrezinho were taking the plaudits up one end of the park, yet another foreigner was starring for the club at the back. Bas van den Brink, a former A-League player with Gold Coast United, provided a commanding and assured presence in defence not seen since Andy Todd and Chris Coyne were fit and firing some time ago. The Dutchman seems to be like Todd in many ways, composed on the ball and with the ability to play it out as well as defend his goal. Van den Brink was also pushed out wide on the right late in the game as a cramping Scot Neville made way for Chris Coyne to be subbed on into central defence. His versatility had previously been on display at Robina Park, and with the Glory’s injury history in the past few years you would imagine it will be very useful this campaign.

The final foreigner to make a big contribution on the weekend was none other than Irish attacking midfielder Liam Miller; spraying balls to the wingers and strikers as he pleased with Adelaide’s players seemingly unable to counter. Whilst Mehmet romped about the park and Andrezinho blazed a trail down the left hand side, Miller played more on the periphery, happy to play supplier to the men in front of him. A couple of key free kicks and corners also hinted that the former Irish international will be a valuable addition at Perth set pieces this year. For the Glory, a team that has perennially struggled at set pieces since the NSL (hence the chant, “score from a corner – we never score from a corner…”) this may prove to be a godsend.

At the heart of these performances on Sunday sits a coach who must be very satisfied with his overseas recruits so far. Ian Ferguson has been under pressure from both media and fans alike to get results this year, but Sunday’s performance has fired a shot across the bow of his critics. Not only did his players outperform their Adelaide United counterparts, but Ferguson’s substitutions put the right men on the park at the right time, effectively nullifying the changes made by his opposite number Rini Coolen. Steve McGarry added some fresh legs and extra bite to Glory’s late-game midfield, while Tommy Amphlett displayed the kind of pace and crossing that will make him an important player for the home side this year. It was Amphlett’s run and cross that set up Billy Mehmet’s headed goal, and he could have added a second himself if Shane Smeltz had made the choice to pass rather than go for goal late in the game.

Now this being said, Ferguson will not want to rest on his laurels. Adelaide’s players will be dirty with themselves for their performance, and you imagine that there would not be too many more games like that from the men in red and black. Likewise Andrezinho, Miller, and Mehmet will need to prove that they are more than one-game wonders if Perth is to challenge for the finals this year. Finally and most importantly, ‘Fergie’ will need to make sure his charges can produce the goods on the road as well as at nib stadium – the biggest failing of past Perth sides in the A-League.

Luckily, next week sees a trip to ‘Melbourne Red’, who seem to have a rather porous defence when compared to cross-town rivals ‘Melbourne Blue’. Assuming Smeltz feels better this week (it seems likely his poor performance Sunday could be put down to the fact that he spent a good part of the week vomiting) you would imagine he and strike partner Mehmet would anticipate lining up against a backline boasting inexperienced defenders and a rookie A-League goalkeeper. The ever-mobile Billy Mehmet will certainly relish the kind of dodgy backpasses that we saw during the Newcastle vs. Heart match on the weekend. That said, Heart should not be underestimated on their own turf – and their attacking pace through the midfield and up front may cause problems, especially if the Glory elect to bring Chris Coyne back to the starting lineup. Ideally, if Perth continue to play the 4-4-2 seen on Sunday, this author would personally replace Burns with the somewhat more agile Adam Hughes in midfield and keep the same back four. Unfortunately it seems likely that Hughes will still be recovering from his recent mystery illness and thus Ferguson will stick with the existing eleven.

But on Sunday’s performances I doubt many Glory fans would complain about an unchanged lineup; a few more games like that from Ferguson’s foreign foot soldiers and we might see backflips performed from many people (including myself) about how suitable our appointed head coach is. It is still early days – and we all saw how last year panned out for a Glory side that at one point was topping the league. Thus the true measure of this team will be to see how they bounce back from a couple of losses on the trot. But in the meantime, fans can hope that this year’s foreign recruits push on from this bright start and do their manager proud – and possibly save his head in the process.