Perth Glory coach Stephen Peters has reminded his squad part of being a team with finals aspirations is fronting up every week after their first loss of the A-League Women season.

And with a looming top-of-the-table clash against Central Coast Mariners on Saturday, Peters is confident his side can take the right lessons into their trip to Gosford.

After not conceding a goal and going unbeaten through their first three matches, Perth looked tired in their 1-0 defeat to Canberra United at HBF Park as they struggled to mount a comeback after Emily Condon’s second-half winner.

Peters was not overly dispirited by the defeat despite the sloppy nature of the goal they conceded, or their own lack of goal-scoring opportunities at the other end.

But after an eye-catching win over Wellington Phoenix last week, Peters said the loss to a previously-winless Canberra served as a reminder his team needed to be on their game every match.

“We have to make sure the 18 players that are selected on the team sheet understand there’s a job to do every single week,” he said.

“It’s not good enough to just do it for three weeks and then put the cue in the rack and expect the opposition not to be at their best. You have to take it each week.”

Condon’s goal was the first time Perth had trailed all season and Peters said the feeling should have stung.

“It’s got to happen to you, and you’ve got to get bitten by it. That’s happened, we can obviously reference this, but it’s about how much that hurts and how much they want to take away from that,” he said.

“If we just go ‘it’ll be OK next week’ and the roll into the game with positivity — which is obviously what you’re trying to do sometimes — without addressing the reason why we lost the game, then it could happen to us again.

“We need to make sure we address the reasons why we ended up on a 1-0 loss, as opposed to even just taking a draw from that game, which has been the cornerstone of the success in our first three games.

“I don’t think we deserved to lose the game, but did we deserve to win the game? Probably not. So then the question is asked: are you happy with a draw at home? Probably not.”

However, despite Glory’s lack of a response after going a goal down, Peters said he felt his squad had pushed themselves to their limit in the opening three games and would consider if anyone needed a rest ahead of a clash with ladder-leaders Central Coast.

“Particular individuals have just emptied the tank in the first three rounds and have done an exceptional job — (Julia) Sardo being one of them, they were out on their feet, and I’m proud of them for being out on their feet,” he said.

“It shows you they’re putting everything in. I’d much rather have that than people playing within themselves and not giving 100 per cent.”