A-League Women: Perth Glory coach Stephen Peters cognisant of areas to improve after season ends on sour note

Perth Glory coach Stephen Peters says their season-ending 5-1 loss to Melbourne City was a harsh reminder of their distance from the league’s benchmark as he forecast increased final-third firepower next season. A five-star City swept Perth aside at Sam Kerr Football Centre on Friday night, racing out to a 4-1 lead at the break with a scintillating showing which clinched the league title for the second year running. The victory not only sealed top spot in the league, but also continued City’s unbeaten season as the gulf in class between them and Perth was clear for all to see. Glory matched Melbourne’s high-tempo game for periods, but were ultimately undone at either end of the field and were City shifted into gears Perth were unable to access, the hosts could not keep up. Peters’ first season in charge has been promising, with seven of their 13 losses coming by just a single goal after an injury-affected campaign was already impacted by an almost completely new-look squad assembling in pre-season. They won as many games as they did in Alex Epakis’ final season as coach and only finished two points adrift of last season’s tally. But Friday’s loss was a sobering reminder for Peters of how much progress needs to be made. “We kept up quite well fitness-wise and the challenge was, they were always going to be a team that plays good-structured football so there were always going to be opportunities for us to showcase we can play good football as well,” Peters said. “They’re just so much better at executing than us, they’ve got quality in the final third that, unfortunately, it’s better than us at the moment in our journey. “We need to get better. It was an opportunity to go for it and try and show something, and then we saw where we were really at unfortunately. We could have probably sat in a low block and kicked balls over the fence but ultimately, in our of our development, what’s that going to do for us? It’s good for us to see where we are against the team of this quality.” Perth scored 27 goals this season, the equal-third lowest total in the league, and they were dealt blows in the final third with forwards Susan Phonsongkham, Kelli Brown, Sarah O’Donoghue and Gabby Hollar all missing significant chunks of the season. Peters said while the progress of the likes of Ella Lincoln was good, they needed to strengthen in front of goal next season. “There’s going to be a recruitment element to that but also what we have managed to do is blood some of these kids that have come through and bridged that gap,” he said. “But we definitely need some more battle-hardened, experienced leaders up there that can can score goals for us.”