A-League Men: Perth Glory young gun Sebastian Despotovski taking cues from father Bobby, captain Adam Taggart

Perth Glory young gun Sebastian Despotovski says he is leaning on advice from father and club legend Bobby and co-captain Adam Taggart as he looks to end his first full season on a high note. The 20-year-old grabbed the second goal of his young career in Perth’s 2-2 draw with Central Coast Mariners last weekend and has a thirst for more as Glory host Macarthur at HBF Park on Sunday. While Glory are still a mathematical chance of reaching the A-League Men’s finals, anything but a win over Macarthur extinguishes their hopes and will extend their top six drought to six years. One of the bright spots in the season has been the emergence of Despotovski, who has started 10 games and appeared in another five games off the bench. The younger Despotovski is currently 111 goals shy of his old man. He has watched plenty of his father’s matches and the pair re-watch current Glory games together — although it can occasionally be a hostile affair. “Goal-scoring, back then, it looked a lot easier than now,” Despotovski quipped. “We’ll watch the game back together, and then he’ll tell me what I need do better, what was good, what was not so good, and then I’ll try and bring that into the next game. “I always talk back, and then he would just complain, saying I always talk back, and then we’ll end it there.” Despite their disagreements at times, wearing the purple shirt and following in the footsteps of his father, who won two premierships with the club and is Glory’s all-time record goalscorer, means the world to the younger Despotovski. “It’s the best feeling. Scoring in general, is just such good feeling, but scoring for the club in the a league is just on another level,” he said. And it a current Perth great he is also leaning on in the form of Taggart, with Despotovski hailing the impact the star striker had on him and his fellow cohort of young players in the squad. “He’s been giving me tips on movements. He’s a good role model for not just me, all the other young players,” he said. “(He tells me) not to make runs just for yourself — make a run into an open space for someone else, and then eventually you’ll get the goal.” Despotovski said both coaches he has played under this season — Adam Griffiths and his predecessor David Zdrilic — had given him the confidence needed to make an impact. “I’m really happy to play the majority of the games. I’ve missed some through injury, but Griff and Zdrilla at the start trusted me, and I’ve just been loving it, playing with everyone,” he said. “(They said) to play how I play in the NPL, with freedom; don’t worry about mistakes, and just play how I normally play, score goals and create goals.”