A-League Men: Perth Glory coach Adam Griffiths hails Nicholas Pennington, Gabriel Popovic and Arion Sulemani

He may have been missing his two biggest stars, but Perth Glory coach Adam Griffiths has lauded a group of unsung heroes as his side snapped their two-month winless run in a 3-1 victory over Macarthur. On an evening of mixed emotions, as Perth’s finals hiatus was extended to a sixth year, Glory showed a glimmer of promise and ended an eight-game run without three points. But despite their top-six aspirations being buried before kick-off, wider frustrations from fans were temporarily halted as Perth produced arguably their best showing since early January’s 3-0 win over Central Coast. That it came with Adam Taggart (adductor) and Tom Lawrence (foot) sidelined spoke volumes, with a cast of often under-appreciated characters stepping up. Nicholas Pennington scored the opener and was arguably man of the match as he constantly found pockets in space in advanced areas. While he impressed in his first season in purple as a central midfielder, Pennington has played as a pseudo left midfielder under Griffiths with a licence to drift centrally. At times, it has been an awkward fit and fans have been vocal in their demands for a more natural wide midfielder or winger, but Griffiths said he was happy with Pennington’s evolution and application. “I said to him, especially this game, that he has the freedom to move wherever he wants. He may start on the left or on the right, but in this game, we felt like we could overload their midfield with their two sixes, and we did that really well,” he said. “I felt like he picked up a lot of free ball in the pockets because their defensive line was worried about our threat in behind with our speed and he did that exceptionally well. “Credit to him, because he’s he’s been working very hard.” The second and third goals against Macarthur came courtesy of Gabriel Popovic and Arion Sulemani, both of whom found the net for the first time in their A-League careers. It was Popovic’s first goal in 20 Perth appearances and while Griffiths hoped Taggart would be back for the Sydney game, he praised his replacement and the impact of Sulemani off the bench. “Popovic’s) performance tonight was very good. He led the line with our press, his energy was good. He was a really good physical presence,” he said. “He had good lay-off, and he really deserved that moment and that goal in front of The Shed and I think he’ll cherish that.” “(Sulemani) has found it difficult this year, and those moments can really give a player confidence.” While finals are now beyond Glory, they could still potentially finish as high as seventh and Griffiths said the confidence within the squad was growing. “It’s probably a common combination of a few things. We really do focus on getting them to change their mindset in terms of how they play and and to be more forward thinking,” he said. “Sometimes I get quite frustrated when we aren’t as forward thinking but we’ve had a few discussions about what do we want to be perceived as, or how do we want to show ourselves for the future? “It feels like that type of conversation has really allowed them the freedom to express themselves.”