01-20-2007, 11:26 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2007 My Local Time: 11:16 PM Location: Australia
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Glory keen to finish on a high
Saturday, 20 January, 2007 - 8:44AM
Justin Chadwick, Sportal
Jamie Harnwell
Jamie Harnwell
Perth coach Ron Smith has labelled the club's 2006/07 Hyundai A-League campaign as a 'frustrating' one, but said the squad was eager to finish off the season in style with a win against New Zealand on Sunday.
The Glory will finish the season in seventh spot on the ladder irrespective of the result against the Knights at North Harbour Stadium, but Smith said it was still important to go for a win against last-placed New Zealand.
"It's been very frustrating for everybody at times. We've had our ups and downs, like most teams do," Smith said when summing up the season.
"The most frustrating bit has been the fact on so many occasions we've almost been there, and it's either our own undoing or something at the end of the game that's cost us points, and that's happened too many times for my liking and I'm sure the players are no different."
"I would have loved to have won last week and the week before that, so that will be the aim on Sunday. I would imagine New Zealand would be the same, so it ought to be a fairly open match."
Captain Jamie Harnwell echoed his coach's sentiments, describing the season as 'very disappointing'.
"We obviously want to play finals, I think every player does, and for us to not be involved is a pretty bitter pill to swallow, but that's the way it is," Harnwell said.
"They say you've got to have the bad ones to enjoy the good ones, so hopefully next year we can look forward to it and enjoy it a bit more."
However, Harnwell said he believed the environment at the club had improved under Smith, who was appointed to the top job during the pre-season.
"It's been a better place to come to work every day than it was last season. Whether that overrides the fact we are not playing finals again, I don't know. That's still a major source of frustration for myself and most of the boys," he said.
"Ron knows where we need to strengthen the team. We've got to, I suppose, stop being naïve in some games. We've coughed up points when we really shouldn't have done."
"It will certainly help getting a full pre-season under our belts under Ron rather than having coaches come in three weeks before the start of the season. All of those things put together should lead us into a much stronger season."
| Credit - A-League.com.au |
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