It was Perth Glory’s former premiership winning manager against the newly appointed interim coach, but Tony Popovic’s Melbourne Victory prevailed 1-0 at his old stomping grounds on Wednesday night.
Victory had the first chance at goal, giving skipper Liam Reddy, a taste of what was to come.
But moments later the home side retaliated as Glory defender Darryl Lachman sparked the home fans’ interest as he ran the ball up from the back line and almost past Ivan Kelava.
In the 25th minute Marco Rojas made a swift turn to strike at goal but, to Perth’s relief and Victory’s dismay, the ball rattled off the post.
It remained scoreless at the 30th minute and following a scrappy back-and-forth fiasco inside the box, it was Josh Brillante to shake things up; Brillante took a surprise crack at goal but Reddy, with a spring in his step, denied the skipper as Victory’s frustration continued to grow.
Seconds after the whistle to commence the second half, ex-Gloryman Jason Davidson, pulled a howler of a challenge on Pacifique Niyongabire and was booked with a yellow.
While Glory were relying on a review of the decision, the home side became distracted and were unable to follow Victory on the counter as Jake Brimmer creatively found Francesco Margiotta who breezed past Glory’s defence.
Margiotta’s goal in the 57th granted Victory a 1-0 lead in Perth along with his first goal in 12 games.
The game was turned in the final 15 as the visitors put up their defences to endure Glory’s last-minute attacks.
Ultimately, it was an all too familiar tale for Glory who were unable to make anything of their chances with Victory claiming a priceless three points with the 1-0 in.
Perth Glory: 0
Melbourne Victory: 1 (Francesco MARGIOTTA 57’)
Perth Glory: Liam REDDY (GK)(C), Adrian SARDINERO (Pacifique NIYONGABIRE 8’), Jack CLISBY, Callum TIMMINS (Daniel STYNES 71’), Antonee BURKE-GILROY, Joshua RAWLINS, Mitchell OXBORROW (Osama MALIK 71’), Giordano COLLI, Trent OSTLER (Tyler VECCHIO 64’), Darryl LACHMAN, Ciaran BRAMWELL (Adam ZIMARINO 64’)
Unused Subs: Cameron COOK (GK), Aidan COYNE
Melbourne Victory: Ivan KELAVA (GK), Jason GERIA, Jason DAVIDSON, Matthew SPIRANOVIC (Stefan NIGRO 68’), Leigh BROXHAM, Chris IKONOMIDIS (Gbenga FOLAMI 68’), Joshua BRILLANTE (C) (Raimon MARCHAN VIDAL 75’), Francesco MARGIOTTA (Nicholas D’AGOSTINO 68’), Brendan HAMILL, Jake BRIMMER, Marco ROJAS
Unused Subs: Marko BULIC (GK), Birkan KIRDAR, Nishan VELUPILLAY
Venue: HBF Park
Referee: Tim DANASKOS
Assistant Referees: Josh MANNELLA, Arvin SHANMUGANATHAN
Fourth Official: Shane SKINNER
Feature Image credit: Ngau Kai Yan
Enjoy this content? Support The Football Sack
Due in part to COVID and lack of current sponsorship we are at risk of not having the funds to continue running The Football Sack. If you enjoy our content and support our work in training talented young writers, please support us with a donation. If every reader contributed just $3, our funding would be covered for over ten years.
| DONATE |
