Melbourne City fell prey to a 3-1 defeat at home to Perth Glory in a game that is likely to leave them feeling they should have got more out of the game.
Glory took the lead early on through a deflected effort from young midfielder Daniel Stynes, but Jamie Maclaren scored the equaliser to put his side back on par. Despite dominating for long periods, goals from Dane Ingham and Nicholas D’Agostino ensured that the visitors walked away with all three points.
City came into this game with recent history against them, having beaten these opponents only once in the past three years.
Meanwhile, Richard Garcia’s charges were coming into this fixture having already lost two consecutive games to Victorian clubs, as a thrilling 5-4 loss to Western United was followed by a 2-1 defeat to Melbourne Victory.
The home side started with pace and intensity attempting to put Perth on the back foot, while the travellers tried to settle into the game through a calm build up from the back when they had the ball.
Seven minutes into the match, striker Maclaren surged forward as the flag stayed down, but defender Darryl Lachman did just enough to get the ball away for a corner. While nothing came of the set-play, the former Brisbane Roar hitman was at it again as he had an effort on goal two minutes later that appeared to be going in, but the ball hit the post and somehow stayed out on that occasion.
A little after 10 minutes was when Perth took a 1-0 lead against the run of play. Diego Castro showed great presence of mind to set up young Stynes in space, and the midfielder sent a shot towards goal that took a deflection off team-mate Carlo Armiento before hitting the back of the net. That goal was the 22-year-old’s first in the A-League.
A few minutes later, midfielder Naoki Tsubaki rushed down the left and crossed one to Maclaren, but the forward was under pressure from opposition defenders and was unable to cause the ‘keeper any significant trouble with his header.
Young defender Joshua Rawlins – who had conceded the penalty against Melbourne Victory – was repaying his manager’s faith by putting in a solid shift. The 16-year-old did very well to drop the ball into the box from the right, to the point where everyone including his skipper Castro appeared surprised as the Spaniard’s finish let him down on that occasion.
Despite conceding early, Patrick Kisnorbo’s men were looking threatening as they put Perth under all kinds of pressure, creating multiple opportunities. But on each occasion, they were either unable to find that final ball or find the right finish.
Just after a third of the game had been played, the pressure paid off as Maclaren scored the equaliser to make it 1-1. Craig Noone had been played through on goal and he let loose a left-footed shot that agonisingly hit the post. But Maclaren showed excellent awareness and positional play to pick up the rebound and send it into the back of the net.
Glory managed to take the lead again just before half-time to make it 2-1. A set-play on the right saw vice-captain Neil Kilkenny send the ball towards the far post for Dane Ingham – who had made a superb run at that point – to score with a diving header. While initially ruled as offside, VAR overturned the decision and the visitors took the lead again.
Two minutes into the second period of play, Perth captain Castro cut his way into the left and beat the Sky Blue defenders before playing an incisive pass to attacker Bruno Fornaroli. The Uruguayan put in a sliding effort that was lacking in quality as he did not even get a touch on the ball and spurned a great chance to put the game to bed.
Following that early scare, City had gone on a good run and were putting Perth under periods of intense pressure, and one of those occasions saw midfielder Adrian Luna unleashing a sweetly timed left-footed shot towards the near post. But goalkeeper Tando Velaphi pulled off an impressive save – reminiscent of a recent save he made against Melbourne Victory – to keep his side in the lead.
At one point, the visitors had been under so much pressure that they had conceded seven corners in 10 minutes. In yet another period of sustained pressure after 67 minutes, Luna crossed one from the right that saw midfielder Connor Metcalfe head the ball over the bar. Fans would likely have felt that given the time and space that the 22-year-old had, he should have done better on that occasion.
As the game continued and the visitors – having played a game every three days recently – started to tire, Sky Blue Marco Tilio was ruthlessly taken down in a two-footed tackle from behind by Nick Sullivan. The man in purple may have felt lucky to have only been shown a yellow card.
After 83 minutes had been played, a rare occurrence of Glory going into the opposition’s attacking third saw them win a free-kick. The set-play saw midfielder Kilkenny send in a pin-point cross, which produced a perfectly timed header from Armiento saw him score totally against the run of play.
Unfortunately for fans of football, ugly scenes erupted when a bottle was thrown at one of the purple shirts as they celebrated the goal.
Despite the incident, Glory managed to keep their composure and see out the game with minimum fuss.
Perth travel to play their fourth consecutive away game with the next one coming against Adelaide United at Hindmarsh Stadium, while Melbourne City lick their wounds and travel to play Central Cost Mariners in Gosford on Wednesday.
