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Perth's Kovacevic wants Melbourne glory [Thu Sep 1st, 2005]
Perth Glory defender Ante Kovacevic will be hoping for a triumphant return home when his side travel to Melbourne to take on the Victory in A-League round two action.
Kovacevic was part of two Melbourne Knights squads which won the NSL championship in 1995 and 1996, and will be hoping for a win against his home state when he marshals Glory's backline at Olympic Park.
"Playing in two NSL winning teams is probably the pinnacle of my career so far," he said.
"To win championships and play in two grand finals when I was a young fellow was great. I was only 19 when I broke into the Knights first team and I took part in both grand finals, I came on as a substitute in the first win and started the match the second time around so I have great memories of that time."
"I definitely think the standard is a level higher than it was in the old NSL and it will only get better as time goes on," the veteran added.
"There are eight teams in the A-League rather than the 12, 13 or 14 in the NSL and we have already seen that is resulting in higher quality squads and more competitive matches."
"It is great for players in Australia to now play in front of bigger crowds and attendances than we saw in the old NSL and the atmosphere at the games over last weekend were similar to those you could expect at European matches," he enthused, referring to the 70,000 plus fans which attended the opening four matches of the new competition.
"Some of the crowds we saw last weekend were better than those we could have expected in finals games in the NSL.
"When I played in NSL finals games there were 14,000 or 15,000 in the crowd so the crowds for the first weekend of the A-League were fantastic."
"They are the sort of atmospheres you want to perform in as players, it gets the best out of you and it is great for football.
The Glory will attempt to recover from their opening round home loss to the Central Coast last week, while the Victory will be high on confidence after snaring a draw and near victory at Sydney FC last Sunday.
AAP
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