24 Jan Djulbic, Kilkenny added as Perth Glory eye finals run

Perth Glory head coach Kenny Lowe is maintaining confidence that his squad can march towards the A-League finals.

The Glory are struggling in second bottom position on the table following a run of five straight defeats in which they have conceded 17 goals and scored just four.

After consecutive 3-2 losses at the hands of Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar, the Western Australian club has completed the signing of veteran defender Dino Djulbic, who returns for his third stint with the Glory.

And there is also interest in former Leeds United, Bristol City, Preston North End and Melbourne City midfielder Neil Kilkenny as Lowe sets his sights on a late run for the top six.

“Dino’s through the door. That’s more or less done,” he told Sportsday WA on Wednesday night.

“(With) Neil, there’s a couple of little formalities but it’s close.

“It just allows us to have competition for places. Slowly, slowly we are getting everybody back.

“It could be next week I think everyone’s back on the park so then we’ve got real competition everywhere which raises the level and raises the intensity for people to play in the team.”

“I think that takes us to 23 (in the squad) so there’s no room anywhere else.

“We’re focused, we’re upbeat, everyone’s really wanting to do well. It’s a real good run-in.

“We’ve got some home games, which is good, we’re getting everyone back, which is good, so fingers crossed we can go storming on towards the end of the year and end up in the finals and surprise everybody.”

The Glory host Western Sydney at nib Stadium on Sunday and maximum points is certainly the order of the day against the sixth-placed Wanderers.

“We are due one. We put in two good performances, apart from the scoreline, away from home,” added Lowe.

“We actually should’ve got something out of both games against Victory and also in Brisbane.

“At the end of the day, we’ve conceded off set plays. We need to be better in that area.

“Hopefully we’ve got people tuned in and switched on and have a little bit of mongrel about them, because in general play we don’t get troubled to a certain extent.”

He added: “The boys are still up for it, they’re still focused, they’re still positive and we’re still going to push on for the weekend to get three points.”

Listen to Lowe on Sportsday WA below: