Sunday afternoon’s spectacular display of football between Perth Glory and Melbourne City FC left everyone at the stadium speechless.
In what looked like was going to be a miserable 1-0 defeat in Kim Carrol’s last home match for Perth, much of Sunday afternoon’s clash between Glory and Melbourne City had been dreary with little excitement.
That was until the 70th-minute mark.
Suddenly, the game burst alive as a Sadie Lawrence free header at the back post resulted in a Perth equaliser making it 1-1.
Before anyone could sit down after celebrating, Glory astonishingly took the lead when Hannah Blake spotted City goalkeeper Melissa Barbieri off her line, lobbing the ball into the back of the net from just shy of the halfway line.
The remaining 20 minutes would consist of four more goals, bringing the final result to a 4-3 win for the home side.
It is the first Glory win over Melbourne City in five years and head coach Alex Epakis was shocked and thrilled as the final whistle blew.
“The blood pressure is just starting to come down now. Wow. Wow. What a match,” he said.
“That performance it’s a nice picture of how the whole season has gone. We started slow like we did in that match. We looked a little bit down and out, and then we found a way to overcome what we needed to get the result, and that is sort of how we are going as a season.”
Hannah Blake’s halfway-line goal, in particular, amazed Epakis.
“I think I ended up on the pitch celebrating,” he said.
“So, I think my thoughts are in my actions there; I was pretty impressed and pretty shocked.”
Glory looked outclassed for most of the game, withholding only 36 per cent possession and four clear shots on target.
However, Epakis said the moment which changed the course of the game for his side was Cyera Hintzen and Gabriella Coleman’s entrance to the game.
“The moment we brought Cyera and Gabriella on in particular, it did start to stretch their back four because there was a threat to get in beyond,” Epakis said.
“Then all of a sudden, it opened up a bit more space for the midfield, and we were able to get on the ball a bit more. I think in the last 20; it looked like we had more of the ball because we actually had players pinning their back four away. So, I think that was a pretty important turning point.”
Perth plays their final two games of the regular season on Tuesday and Saturday this week, away in Sydney and Brisbane, respectively.
Glory must win both to keep their slim finals hopes alive.
Feature Image credit: Darren Speedie
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