McGarry relishing Gulls challenge as Sorrento prepare for big day

Round Three of the NPLWA - Men’s competition features a northern derby between Sorrento and Perth RedStar on a special weekend for the home side.

The Gulls are hosting their first league fixture of the campaign at 3.30pm this Saturday as they officially unveil the John Hughes Pavilion. This is part of upgrades to Percy Doyle Reserve which include new changerooms, referee rooms and a relaying of the pitch, and will see Haiti use the Duncraig venue as a team base for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Sorrento are hoping for a bumper crowd to mark the occasion, with community and club identities in tow to cut the ribbon on proceedings.

Head coach Steven McGarry says it is an exciting time to be at Sorrento and welcomes the investment in both the club specifically and local football in general, such as the recent multi-million dollar lights upgrade at nearby Kingsway Reserve.

“You look at the facilities across the board in WA and they are starting to improve,” he said.

“I’ve been here nearly 14 years and it’s taken a while to get some funding back into the game here, which was desperately needed. But over the last couple of years we’ve seen clubs get light upgrades, facility upgrades, pitch upgrades and we have been a beneficiary of that of late.

“The pitch will be looking immaculate in the next couple of weeks with Haiti coming into train at our base for the Women’s World Cup. Everything’s very positive at the moment. We’ve got the opening of the stand this weekend for a big fixture and a northern derby against Perth RedStar.”

The former Perth Glory midfielder was announced as Sorrento’s new head coach on March 1 after the club parted ways with Trevor Morgan following their Night Series campaign.

“It’s been nice to get back on the grass again and coach and to have that feeling of preparing a team for the weekend,” McGarry said.

“I’d been out of the game for a little while, doing my pro-licence … then going over to Singapore and to Malaysia to enhance my coaching education further. But I found myself in a situation where I was missing the game a bit and the timing was right to get involved again.

“I spoke with the club about their ambitions and it sat well with me. I want to come in and improve the team and eventually help them win titles and championships again. That might not happen right away, but the challenge excites me because I feel we have the foundations of a really good squad here.

“There’s been a couple of challenges and constraints coming into the job, with it being a couple of weeks out from the start of the season, and obviously the transfer window had closed too. So it was a case of preparing the playing group we had for Round One and a lot of work has been done to get tactical information across.”

The Gulls defeated Bayswater City 4-1 in their season opener before going down 1-0 to Perth SC last weekend, a start McGarry describes as “indifferent but overall, really positive”.

In Round Three, Sorrento come up against a RedStar team they beat 5-2 in this fixture last August, only for Callum Salmon’s side to get revenge weeks later in a thrilling preliminary final on route to Top Four Cup success.

“It’s always a big game and it will be a tough one as well,” McGarry said.

“I’ve watched their first two matches. They’re a strong squad and the expectations of them performing this year are high, with guys who have played in the A-League and others who have been around the block for a number of years. But on the day, it will be 11 versus 11 and we will go into the game confident and looking to win it.”

And with last year’s Gold Medal winner Daryl Nicol picking up where he left off in 2022 with two goals in two games, McGarry admitted that time will be afforded to looking at the dangers RedStar pose.

“I think we’d be naïve not to look at the threats of the opposition and that’s something I’ve always done as a coach. Daryl is a player I know having played with him (at ECU Joondalup) and I coached Chok (Dau) when I was with Perth Glory U20’s,” he said.

“They have threats all over the pitch, but there’s a real focus on how we’re trying to play and continuously progress with our levels at training and on game day.”

Elsewhere, Perth Glory aim to continue their fine start to 2023 at Bayswater in a top-versus-bottom clash at Frank Drago Reserve.

Victories over Balcatta and Armadale mean Glory set the pace after two rounds, and head coach John Walmsley is aiming for a sixth straight win in all competitions at the club where he was previously assistant to Gareth Naven. Meanwhile, Bayswater are waiting to get off the mark following defeats to Sorrento and Cockburn City in the opening fortnight.

Stirling Macedonia will try to protect their 100% record when they take on Floreat Athena in a heavyweight clash at E&D Litis Stadium. Both teams were in the title mix last year come season’s end, and the 5pm fixture provides an early opportunity for the old rivals to make an early statement.

Perth SC hope to continue their unbeaten start when they welcome Cockburn to Dorrien Gardens for a third straight home fixture. Marc Wingell’s team have looked well organised in collecting four points from their first two matches, but the Cockerels will be full of confidence after last week’s win over Bayswater.

Armadale and Inglewood United meet with both sides looking to bounce back from Round Two defeats. John O’Reilly’s Armadale are the league’s leading scorers with nine goals already, while Andres Oliveira’s team showed they can score quickly when they came from two-down to beat Floreat in their last away outing.

Finally, promoted Olympic Kingsway will look to register their first points when they welcome Balcatta Etna to Kingsway Reserve. David Tough’s Night Series winners will take heart from their opening performances against two of last season’s top three, but Balcatta are in buoyant mood after an excellent display away at Inglewood last week.

All matches will be live streamed on the Seven West Media Streamer platform: https://streamer.com.au/league/nplwa

Fixtures

Saturday (3pm unless stated)
Armadale v Inglewood United
Bayswater City v Perth Glory
Olympic Kingsway v Balcatta Etna
Perth SC v Cockburn City
Sorrento v Perth RedStar (3.30pm)
Floreat Athena v Stirling Macedonia (5pm)