PERTH Glory coach Ian Ferguson says he's delighted he's been able to pay back owner Tony Sage's faith in him after they reached the A-League Grand Final with a penalty shootout win over Central Coast on Saturday.
Glory had been languishing down in ninth in December with Ferguson under plenty of pressure, before an excellent second-half to the season saw the club finish third on the table.
Saturday's 5-3 penalty shootout victory over the Mariners, after the game ended 1-1 following 120 minutes of play, also took Perth to the Championship decider.
“It's funny how football works. At Christmas time you're hanging on to your job, and you're hoping you get a chance to keep it going,” Ferguson said.
“Tony (Sage) showed great faith in keeping me on and I'm absolutely delighted that we've reached the final as it pays back the faith that Tony has shown.”
Ferguson was full of praise for his players too, who he believes don't get the credit they deserve and felt they were worthy of the Grand Final spot .
“They deserve it, they absolutely deserve it,” the Scot said. “Everybody's underwritten them, everybody's not given them the credit they probably deserve at times.
“I'm just very proud and absolutely delighted to be in the final.”
Glory's equalising goal which came through Shane Smeltz on 34 minutes, just moments after Adam Kwasnik's opener was hotly disputed by Mariners boss Graham Arnold.
Arnold indicated he felt Billy Mehmet was offside in the lead-up to Smeltz's tap-in but Ferguson refused to be drawn on the issue.
“You get some, you lose some and for us a bit of luck and we get it,” he said.
“We're not going to make a big thing about it.”
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