Head-to-head

Perth Glory 8, Newcastle 3, Draws 4

Previous Meeting
Perth Glory 4, Newcastle Jets 0, nib Stadium, December 2009

History
The Jets won't have too many fond memories of playing Glory over the past few years, having won just one of the last six games. Last time these two sides played, Jamie Harnwell led Glory to a 4-0 Boxing Day thrashing of the Jets that set the tone for a quality end to the season for the Western Australian side. Indeed, Glory won all three games against the Jets last year, while the season before, the two teams were involved in some really memorable games. In Round 2, 2008-09, Jade North popped up with an injury time equaliser in a 3-3 result. But their next clash produced one of the season's more controversial moments. Leading 2-1 heading into injury time, Glory won a late penalty through Argentine Adrian Trinidad. This was at the height of the 'South Americans' are divers craze and under pressure Newcastle coach Gary van Egmond went right off. Moments after Eugene Dadi slotted the equaliser from the spot, he ran out to confront Trinidad and appeared to grab him by throat, leading to a long touchline ban for the former coach.

Season So Far
Perth Glory: DW
Newcastle Jets: DD

Match Committee
Some selection questions for Glory coach Dave Mitchell this week as his defence is boosted by centre half Josh Mitchell. Mitchell has finally received a provisional clearance from FIFA after a few months of wrangling with his previous club in Romania. This means that either Jamie Harnwell or Jamie Coyne may be replaced at centre half for Mitchell to come in, although Mitchell may be reluctant to shake up a winning side. Andy Todd, however, is still some weeks from resuming with his knee injury. The Jets have suffered a big blow heading into this game, losing defender Nikolai Topor-Stanley with a hamstring injury to the former Glory man. Taylor Regan comes into the side.

Danger men
Perth Glory: Mile Sterjovski. Sterjovski may have scored six goals for Glory last season but the former Derby player was far from his best as he played on with injury in the hope former Australian coach Pim Verbeek would still consider him for Socceroos duties. Having announced his international retirement when not selected for South Africa, Sterjo has had a full pre-season behind him and appears the most dangerous player on the park for Glory, having scored two goals in the first two games. He may not have quite outshone a bloke named Fowler in the popularity stakes, but if he keeps scoring goals like his second-half strike against Melbourne last week, he just might.

Jets skipper Michael Bridges was among the best on the park in last week's unlucky draw with Melbourne Heart. Bridges forced a tremendous save from Clint Bolton early in the game and should have received a penalty just before the hour. Jeremy Brockie may have stolen the headlines with his first goal in Jets' colours but Bridges is still the most dangerous player in Newcastle's front third.

At the end of the day….
Glory may be sitting pretty on top of the table but the Jets are still a dangerous opponent on their day and particularly when they go into a match as underdogs. Last season, no one rated Branko Culina's men against Gold Coast United and they still came away with three wins from four games. That being said, Newcastle's only enjoyed one win over Glory in the last two seasons and it's obvious that Perth is a team that matches up against the Jets particularly well, even though there have been personnel changes along the way for both sides.

Glory defeated Melbourne last week on the back of some clinical finishing by Jamie Harnwell and Mile Sterjovski. They are most dangerous down the right flank as the likes of Sterjovski, Adriano Pelegrino and Scott Neville rampage down that wing, almost deliberately winning corners, where the team can then use Fowler's precision boot to great effect at the set pieces. Glory also boast some impressive defenders right across the park as combative skipper Jacob Burns and feisty Steve McGarry defend hard.

This has made life somewhat easier for an undermanned back four that will be still missing Andy Todd (knee) for another fortnight. But Glory's back four has been boosted by the inclusion of defender Josh Mitchell after he received a provisional clearance from FIFA to play. Mitchell is something of an unknown quantity but is highly rated by the club and should bring the extra defensive nous needed to cover the attacking threat of Bridges, Labinot Haliti and Jobe Wheelhouse.

Although they didn't get the points last week against Heart, courtesy of a disastrous Ben Kantarovski own goal, the Jets were pretty impressive. They created more genuine chances to score than the new Melbourne side and restricted the Heart to long-range efforts. Only once was Ben Kennedy's goal seriously threatened before Kantarovski produced a sizzling accidental strike to beat him. The Jets have some clever attacking talent that could pose a risk for Glory but they lack a lot in defence without Topor-Stanley and could be exposed down there by the Fowler/Sterjovski combo once again. Glory to win this one, but I suspect it won't be the massacre the Jets copped last Boxing Day.

TEAMS: 
Perth Glory squad: 1. Tando VELAPHI, 2. Josh MITCHELL, 3. Jamie COYNE, 5. Jamie HARNWELL, 7. Jacob BURNS (C), 9.Robbie FOWLER, 10. Michael BAIRD, 11. Branko JELIC, 12. Scott NEVILLE, 14. Steven McGARRY, 15. Howard FONDYKE 16. Adriano PELLEGRINO, 17. Todd HOWARTH, 19. Naum SEKULOVSKI, 20. Aleks VRTESKI, 21. Mile STERJOVSKI, 22. Anthony SKORICH, 23. ANDRIJA JUKIC

*three to be omitted*

In: Josh MITCHELL (Universitatea Craiova) , Michael BAIRD (Universitatea Craiova) – subject to provisional registration, ANDRIJA JUKIC (promoted)
Out: Nil
Unavailable: Andy TODD (knee- 2 weeks), Victor SIKORA (hip-6 weeks), Chris COYNE (On loan – 8 weeks)

Newcastle Jets squad: 1. Ben KENNEDY (gk), 2. Taylor REGAN, 3. Adam D’APUZZO, 5. Ljubo MILICEVIC 6. Ben KANTAROVSKI 7. Kasey WEHRMAN 8. Michael BRIDGES (c), 10. Ruben ZADKOVICH, 11. Tarek ELRICH, 12. Jobe WHEELHOUSE, 14. Labinot HALITI, 16. Jeremy BROCKIE, 18. Marko JESIC, 19. Ali ABASS, 30. Paul HENDERSON

In: 2. Taylor REGAN (promoted)
Out: 4. Nikolai TOPOR STANLEY (hamstring)
Unavailable: 22. Kaz PATAFTA (hamstring), 20. Neil YOUNG (illness – indefinite), 9. Zhang SHOU (not Selected) 17. Marcello FIORENTINI (not selected), 15. Sean ROONEY (calf - 4 weeks), 13. Sash PETROVSKI (not selected)