Melbourne City will travel west this weekend when they take on Perth Glory, a club rocked by a salary cap breach investigation and a third show cause notice from Football Federation Australia looming above its head.
City are coming off the back of a strong performance against title-chasers Wellington Phoenix, extending their unbeaten run to five games with some suggesting the Melbourne side are the form team of the competition. Perth, on the other hand, succumbed to Sydney FC in a rampant display by the Sky Blues, just hours after the Glory were removed from this season’s A-League finals series.
Large amounts of protest came from Glory active supporter groups, most notably from Perth Terrace and Glory Fans United, making it clear that they wanted Tony Sage to step down from club ownership and see drastic changes in management. Perth Terrace’s Facebook page also states that they will not be attending the game against City, but instead, will be protesting against the club’s back room staff from outside the ground during the match.
If the Glory are found guilty regarding the third show cause notice, punishment could carry over into next season, with the possibility of being docked points and large fines a possibility. Further notions such as this would have severe impact on the club, no doubt effecting membership and attendance. As well as this, legal obligations with some of its players may mean they would be able to walk away from the club.
Perth is currently in the process of appealing against the sanctions given out by the FFA, claiming that Australia’s football governing body had no right to dish them out so close to the end of the season. FFA will no doubt look to close the case before the beginning of the finals series to avoid severe embarrassment should the Glory lodge a successful appeal.
But back to the football. City have struggled to win away from AAMI Park this season, having ended their home campaign last Sunday with nine consecutive undefeated results in Melbourne. The club’s last six appearances away from home have resulted in just one win (a 1-0 win over Sydney FC). Against a rattled Perth Glory outfit with nothing but pride to play for, this is surely a great opportunity to better their away record.
Currently sitting in sixth position and eight points behind Wellington, City are expected to finish fifth this season as a result of Perth’s relegation to seventh. As a result, an away elimination final beckons with their likely opponents including Sydney, Adelaide United and Wellington Phoenix, clubs that the Melburnians have enjoyed good results against in recent outings (win, win and draw).
Having only played 15 out of 25 matches this season, Melburnian cult hero and former Perth goalkeeper Tando Velaphi has contributed largely to City’s recent run of success, having conceded just one goal in the club’s last five appearances and claiming eight clean sheets for the season. Regardless of this, Velaphi attributes the success in no small part to the rest of his team.
“We’ve been sticking to our strengths and defending really well, as well as being compact and taking our opportunities when they arise,” Velaphi told Melbourne City FC’s official website.
“If we can keep doing that in the next two games in the league and going into the finals, that’ll put us in really good stead.”
The City shot-stopper insists the club is not yet thinking about finals and wants to end the season on a high, with two important games away from home just around the corner.
“We have two games that we really need to concentrate on before we get ahead of ourselves so this week is Perth and we really want to put in a good performance; it’s never easy away from home but we’ll work on it this week and make sure we put our best foot forward.”
Some including the City keeper have suggested that the club’s stellar form in recent weeks has come as a result of the City Football Academy, Melbourne’s new $15 million training facility. Velaphi spoke highly of their owner’s (City Football Group) recent investment.
“When you walk into work every day and you see the pitches and the facilities, you want to get the best out of yourself every day,” said Velaphi.
“I think subconsciously it has helped the team a lot, the team vibe and we’re really enjoying using the facilities here and I think we are very lucky to have that. We don’t take it for granted and we realise that when we’re here, we’re here to work.”
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