A-League Men: Perth Glory interim coach Adam Griffiths dealt injury blows after 1-0 loss to Sydney FC

Perth Glory’s recent good form will come under threat from an injury crisis as interim coach Adam Griffiths sweats over the fitness of several attacking stars. After a 1-0 loss to Sydney where Griffiths felt Perth’s lack of cutting edge in front of goal was the biggest difference, the potential unavailability of four key attackers will bite ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Adelaide at HBF Park. Abel Walatee’s fifth-minute strike was enough for Sydney to take home the chocolates, with Perth finishing with more possession (54 per cent) and shots (13-6) — but more importantly, no goals. Already missing winger Lachie Wales due to a hamstring injury, Perth lost last week’s match-winner Sebastian Despotovoski to a calf complaint and then star striker and co-captain Adam Taggart to an apparent groin injury. Jaiden Kucharski, who had loomed dangerously in the first half, then came off after he appeared to strain a muscle in his leg just after half-time. Griffiths said both Taggart and Kucharski would be sent for scans to determine the extent of their injuries, but ruled out Despotovski and Wales for next weekend’s match. “I’m not sure the exact time frame with Despo, he’s hurt his calf. He’s no chance for next week,” Griffiths said. “(Wales) is getting another scan this week, so we’ll know with a little bit more clarity on his situation. Hopefully it’s not too long.” The absence of the four will put more pressure on Tom Lawrence, who once again impressed and was at the heart of Glory’s best moments. Injuries have hit Perth hard this season, and Griffiths also confirmed goalkeeper Cameron Cook had re-injured his knee, although his continued absence will allow Perth to extend no.1 ‘keeper Matt Sutton’s injury replacement contract. While Kiwi left-back Sam Sutton made a promising return from injury against Sydney after a pre-season knee injury, English import Luke Amos has only just returned to training following his own knee problem. “He (Amos) missed the whole pre-season pretty much, so he needs to work very hard to get back up to speed. So we’ll just go day by day or week by week with him,” Griffiths said. Despite the 1-0 defeat to ladder-leaders Sydney on Saturday night, Griffiths was happy with the fighting spirit of the players even as they struggled to conjure an equaliser. “What we need to go away and look at, how do we create more goal scoring moments that are clear cut? We’ll work on that,” he said. “But there’s a lot of positives in terms of the fight and the energy and the desire. There’s a couple of good combination plays we had chances to score and then we just have to be a little bit more clinical, so we’ll rest and recover and then go again. “The attitude and the application was good. I can’t fault them. Although I’m very frustrated, I cannot fault the players. They gave everything in very hard conditions.” One of the reasons Perth could not find the net was an outstanding defensive display from the visitors, led by former Glory fan favourite and Joondalup product Alex Grant and Sydney coach Ufuk Talay said the centre-back still had levels to reach. “Granters can go a few steps further. When he came to us last season, he came injured, he was injured in China for a long time. We gave him a good pre-season under his belt, and his ceiling is a lot higher,” Talay said. “For guys to get to the Socceroos’ level, they need to perform at club level first and if they’re performing well, then they’ll have the opportunity to play for the Socceroos.”