Hindmarsh Stadium was the venue for the second clash between Perth Glory and Adelaide United. Perth was looking to secure a finals berth while for the hapless Adelaide, improvement was on the agenda.
Adelaide changed their formation to a 4-5-1 trying to retain midfield at the expense of their front line. But in the 16th minute it came to nought as a free kick awarded to Perth was taken by the enterprising Collette McCallum who lofted the ball over the heads of the Adelaide defenders to find an aware Sam Kerr. The Perth forward shouldered the ball down into the 18yd box and volleyed over the keepers head.
Just before half time, in the 42nd minute, a goal kick from the keeper landed in front of Collette McCallum to again half volley the ball over the heads of the totally unreading Adelaide defence for Sam Kerr to run onto the ball and chip over the keeper again. 2-0 half time.
The second half started as the first half finished, with Perth long balling and Adelaide trying to do anything to get some advantage. But in the 73rd minute the ball was stolen by the effervescent Victoria Balomenos and beautifully treaded through the Perth side to find Katrina Gorry wrong siding Perth defender Alex Singer. Gorry then continued towards goal and as usually happens in footy one mistake is compounded by another with the Glory Keeper Tine Cederkvist opting to kick as opposed to falling on the loose ball. This only resulted in kicking the ball straight into Gorry, rebounding past Tine for the Red’s Midfielder to recapture and walk it over the goal line.
It was Adelaide’s fourth goal of the season but it felt like a semi final winning goal! Full time and an unconvincing 2-1 win to Perth.
Best for the Glory was Sam Kerr and for Adelaide Victoria Balomenos (who needs to be fed more wide balls as she can damage opponents defences) and Christina Papageorgiou.
In other results Canberra disposed of the up and down and probably now out, Newcastle. While a nil all draw from the Melbourne and Brisbane game makes for an interesting conclusion to the season; Sydney had their prayers answered and are now a likely shoe-in for the number one spot with two games remaining for them, Canberra and Newcastle. While for Brisbane one game remains next week at Ballymore against Newcastle.
Next week also holds the key for fourth place as Perth host Melbourne with the winner taking the prize. The smart money is on Melbourne but in footy anything can and usually does happen.
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