A-League Women: Perth Glory coach Stephen Peters happy with first win but says improvement still needed

Perth Glory coach Stephen Peters says his side must improve, but admitted he was pleased to get off the mark for the A-League Women’s season. Peters celebrated his first win in the top flight as the Glory held off a 10-woman Newcastle Jets 3-2 at HBF Park on Sunday, despite the Jets setting up an interesting finish with a late goal. Ahead of a trip to Brisbane Roar this Friday, Peters said there was plenty for Perth to improve on, with seven goals now shipped across two games — although it was nice to get three points on the board. “Monkey off the back, so that’s nice. I can’t fault the effort, but we’ve got to tidy up certain aspects,” he said. “Defensively, making sure we’ve always got pressure on the ball. When we put pressure on the ball, we force the opposition into mistakes and we create opportunities off the back of that. “We’re very kamikaze on the back foot, so we need to be better at that.” After Josie Allan had cancelled out Georgia Cassidy’s opening minute opener, Peters brought on Nigerian defender Onyinyechi Zogg and midfielder Sarah O’Donoghue at half-time. While Zogg shored up the defence, O’Donoghue’s energy proved pivotal as she put Perth ahead shortly after her arrival, and her pressing led to Kelli Brown’s long-range strike to make it 3-1. “The balance wasn’t quite there in the first half,” Peters said. “When you’ve got someone of the calibre of Onyi on the bench, you want to try get her in there and she was probably only ready for 20 minutes but I decided to play her for 45, so I’ll probably get a slap on the wrist from the medical team,” he said. “Sarah’s been training really well. The things you saw there, where she won the tackle for the goal and her finish, we know she’s got it in her locker. “We know she’s probably not a 90 minute player yet, so that’s her development point.” With Welsh international Megan Wynne not far away from a return from injury, goalkeeper Casey Dumont set to arrive upon conclusion of Hawthorn’s AFLW season and WA defenders Izzy Foletta and Bella Wallhead not yet fit, Peters said there was a lot of experience to come back into the side. “That’s what we want: 22 players fighting for 11 spots,” he said. “That’s every coach’s dream. Once we get to a full bill of health, we’ll be a tough nut to crack for most teams.”