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AAP
AAP
Sport
Jacob Shteyman

Perth Glory fired up for ALW homecoming

Perth captain Natasha Rigby is so eager to experience a big atmosphere for the Glory's first home A-League Women game in almost a year that she's even recruiting supporters at the local service station.

"I've been telling every woman and every dog to come down," she said ahead of the Glory's second-round clash with Adelaide United on Sunday.

"We haven't been able to play in front of our members and fans for a very long time, and our friends and families as well, so it's going to be a very special time for us."

Perth return to Macedonia Park off the back of a gritty opening round draw at Canberra United, in which they twice came from behind to salvage a point.

They'll need all the added motivation their home fans can bring against an Adelaide side buoyed by their last-gasp win over grand finalists Sydney FC.

"They played well and they found a way to win so they can't be underestimated," Rigby said of her opponents.

"So we know we're going to have to take it to them.

"It gives you so much (when the crowd is behind you) and like we saw with Canberra last week they lifted their team up.

"So we're hoping we can get our fans behind us this week."

Despite shading possession statistics in the nation's capital, the Glory often looked shaky in defence and on the ball, conceding 24 shots at goal.

After Sarah Langman made an impressive nine saves on debut, head coach Alex Epakis hopes the young goalkeeper won't be required as often against the Reds.

"If we were a little tidier in certain moments we probably would've controlled that game from start to finish," he said.

"We did have a larger amount of possession but we just needed to be a bit more effective with it.

"Adelaide's going to be similar, they've got players in the transition moments who can really hurt us in their front three.

"If we're keeping the ball better we won't have to worry about the transitions."

Perth remain without Claudia Michocic and Milan Hammond and may have to dip into injury replacement signings if the pair are ruled out long term.

"We've got a couple of local players training with us at the moment preparing for if that scenario does present itself," Epakis said.

"There's some great talent coming through and as time progresses we want to continue to blood those players and give them the opportunity."

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