An early Bruno Fornaroli strike saw Perth Glory triumph 1-0 and heap further misery on Markus Babbel’s Western Sydney Wanderers at Bankwest Stadium on Sunday.
Despite missing four of their regulars, Tony Popovic’s side managed to secure maximum returns from a disjointed, physical contest which included two goals that were ruled out following VAR consultation.
The visitors were the sharper side in the opening stages and took just six minutes to stamp their authority on the scoresheet.
Jake Brimmer picked the pocket of Patrick Ziegler and released Fornaroli, who opened his body up and with the assistance of a heavy deflection squeezed the ball under Daniel Lopar.
The Red and Back then slowly but surely established a foothold in the contest.
Nicolai Muller almost grabbed an equaliser 28 minutes in but his volley was clawed away to safety by Liam Reddy.
Two minutes later some superb trickery from Joel Chianese found the bottom left corner, but play was eventually called back for an earlier offside.
The rest of the period was played out in a stop-and-start manner, as a handful of players required treatment following some overzealous challenges from both sides.
A smart set-piece late saw Muller roll the ball into the path of Mitchell Duke but the Wanderers skipper’s effort failed to navigate a congested penalty area.
A controversial flash-point arrived ten minutes into the second half as the crowd erupted after Kwame Yeboah bundled home from close range.
However those cheers were soon traded for a chorus of boos after a lengthy VAR check resulted in the goal being scratched out for a handball.
Despite the setback, Babbel’s men continued to dominate possession as Bruce Kamau spurned a couple of half chances.
Popovic made clear his dissatisfaction with Glory’s game management and his side soon responded.
Brimmer curled one high and wide before Chianese neatly poked the ball home at the front post – only to have VAR rule out his strike yet again.
Eight minutes of stoppage time followed, but the Wanderers were ultimately unable to break the Glory’s resolve.
The result – Perth’s sixth victory on the bounce – heaped pressure on Babbel who has now only captured three points once in his last eleven attempts.
Western Sydney Wanderers: 0
Perth Glory: 1 (Fornaroli 6’)
Bankwest Stadium
Attendance: 9090
Referee: Adam Fielding
Assistant Referees: Lance Greenshields, Kearney Robinson
Fourth Official: Kurt Ams
VAR: Kris Griffiths-Jones
Western Sydney Wanderers: Daniel LOPAR (GK), Daniel GEORGIEVSKI, Dylan MCGOWAN, Matt JURMAN, Tarek ELRICH, Patrick ZIEGLER (Nicholas SULLIVAN 69′), Pirmin SCHWEGLER, Mitch DUKE (C), Nicolai MULLER (Mohamed ADAM 82′), Kwame YEBOAH, Bruce KAMAU (Tate RUSSELL 69′)
Unused subs: Nicholas SUMAN (GK) , Noah PAGDEN, Dean PELEKANOS, Kostadinos GROZOS
Perth Glory: Liam REDDY (GK), James MEREDITH, Gregory Wuthrich, Alex GRANT, Tomislav MRCELA, Sooebeom KIM, Jake BRIMMER (Kristian POPOVIC 82′), Neil KILKENNY, Diego CASTRO (C) (Gabriel POPOVIC 91′), Joel CHIANESE, Bruno FORNAROLI
Unused subs: Tando VELAPHI (GK), Jacob TRATT, Dane INGHAM
Feature image credit: Perth Glory
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 |
