The New Zealand international led the way in the number of goalscoring assists he provided last season.

But he failed to net a single goal for the Glory, and it is a statistic he has no intention of being saddled with this year.

Glory fans only have to look at his previous form in the scoring stakes to acknowledge that Bertos’s goal drought was something of a career ‘blip’.

He said: “Providing chances for others to score is obviously a key part of my job. That’s something I’ll be looking to do again this season of course.

“But part of a midfielder’s responsibility is also to score goals and it was disappointing that I didn’t score a single goal last season.

“It just didn’t seem to happen for me on that front. But it’s not like I’ve always struggled to score them.

“In my last year at Rochdale, I scored 12 goals in about 30 games from a wide role, and I also finished as top scorer for the reserves one year when I was playing for Barnsley.

“I’m just hoping it’s a case that when the first goal goes in for Perth, then the floodgates will open.”

But whether it’s assists or goals, Bertos believes he is part of arguably the A-League’s most exciting attacking line-up.

In addition to Bertos, coach Ron Smith also has Nicky Rizzo on the books with plenty of threat in the striking positions through new boys Nikita Rukavytsya and Mate Dragicevic.

Bertos said: “I think the coach has recruited really well and both Nikita and Mate have looked good in pre-season.

“I think Nikita can take the A-League by storm and Mate has looked impressive. He looks very comfortable on the ball. I think one thing we lacked last year were the sort of guys who were going to guarantee you double figures in goals.

“But now I think we have a really, really exciting attacking line up.”

Bertos missed Glory’s first two Pre-Season Cup matches after sustaining a groin injury during the club’s recent tour of Malaysia.

However he returned to the starting line-up as Glory enjoyed a 2-1 win over Melbourne Victory.

He said: “I thought I’d pulled a groin muscle during the trip to Malaysia but I had a scan when I got back and it showed I’d torn a tendon in my hip.

“I had a cortisone injection, it’s settled down and I’ve been given the all-clear.”

Having contributed to last week’s Pre-Season Cup victory over Melbourne, Bertos is now looking forward to a semi-final encounter with fellow form side Central Coast Mariners.

He said: “It should be a good match and hopefully we can get the right result to keep building the confidence. Winning is everything in sport.”