Perth Glory pulled off a 2-1 snatch and grab with 30% possession against an aimless, tired Wanderers team that couldn't do the job at either end of the park.
Western Sydney were looking to take advantage of the 1 v 2 draw between Wellington Phoenix and Melbourne Victory the night before, a win over the cellar dwelling Glory would close the gap to a solitary point. For Perth an upset would do little more than keep them in vague touch with the 10th placed Newcastle Jets. Daniel Margush continues in goal with Thomas on international duty, at the other end Perth elected to make a change in gloveman with experienced Kiwi international Oli Sail returning to the starting lineup after being dropped after Round 2.
It took 45 seconds for the Wanderers to have a chance, the Glory making a mistake in defence with two players failing to stop a long ball going through to Marcus Antonsson although he was quite wide and his shot followed out for a goal kick. The opening 15 was less than glorious, neither team showing much technical quality. The Wanderers dominated possession but when the moment called for some quality the technical skill fell apart, the ball going wayward with legs and feet getting tangled and passes going astray.
Ben Warland picked up the first yellow card of the evening when Dylan Pierias beat Kamau and then took on Warland, found a route around the defender before being dragged down with a cynical foul. Marcelo had been criticised for his failure to get headers from set pieces on target but from a 20th minute corner this free kick he did exactly that. He rose above his defender, nodded back across goal and past the keeper but Warland was Johnny on the spot and had anticipated the shot, had fallen back to the line and kicked it away to save his team.
Perth could have taken the lead in the 25th minute when they broke the Wanderers line, with a hint of offside the ball ended up being cut back across the 6 yard box for what seemed to be a simple tap-in for Adam Taggart, only for Daniel Margush to make a full length dive to block the shot. Taggart went down to the pitch shortly after with an apparent calf injury in the attempt to score. After a few minutes of treatment Taggart made his way back onto the pitch.
After a half-hour of Wanderers domination Glory took the lead with a blistering counter-attack that left the defence chasing shadows. A game of midfield head tennis ended with Kamau playing a volley for Taggart, Colakovski had Alex Bonetig beaten all ends up for pace and he was free as a bird inside the penalty area when Taggart's low cross found him and this time around Margush couldn't stop Colakovski from finding the bottom corner to make it 1-0.
Perth almost doubled their lead with the duo of Colakovski and Taggart again managing to create several shots on target, Marcelo blocking one and then a second off the line out of pure luck more than any wise defending. In the waning seconds of the half Taggart went into the book for dissent after his reaction to be called for a clear foul and handball.
Oscar Priestman was carded 4 minutes into the second half for holding. Taggart had another long range strike at goal, a right footed effort that took a deflection off Bonetig for a corner. Colakovski and Bruce Kamau exited together in the 58th minute with David Williams and Luke Ivanovic coming on to maintain the highly pacey Perth front three.
Pierias fashioned a chance for Alex Badolato, the youngest on his right foot and unmarked couldn't hit the target with his attempted curling shot inside the box. Williams' first involvement was smashing Daniel Margush in the lower body after Margush rushed out to make a clearance from a Marcelo header backward. Taggart would have had an assist when a shot of his stung the palms of Margush with Williams coming in to score the rebound, but Taggart was offside on his initial touch and he knew it.
Rudan finally made some changes in his typical late fashion, a triple sub with Cleur, Ninkovic and Yuel on with Milanovic, Badolato and Preistman coming off. Mustafa Amini was carded for delaying the restart when the Wanderers tried a counter-attack from a Perth corner, and survived what might have been a second yellow moments before his substitution along with Koutroumbis, Trent Ostler & Luke Bodnar coming on for Perth. Brillante tried a long range effort due to a lack of options in front of him, it might have been curling into the side netting but Sail turned it around the post for a corner. The corner went nowhere except back to Perth, who put Bennie in on goal but an offside stopped him. With Warland down cramping, it opened up a gap for Ninkovic who stepped around four defenders only for the nearest to stick out a boot and prevent Ninkovic getting closer to goal.
Perth emptied the bench with 12 minutes to play, Warland made way for Jacob Muir. Lachlan Brook became the 4th change for the Wanderers with Pierias' decent effort not being rewarded on the scoreboard. Margush made a good save after his defenders failed to clear and failed to close down the man on the ball.
With the Wanderers chasing the game they opened up a huge amount of space and Perth took advantage. They initiated a lightning counter attack when Bonetig's aimless long ball was headed back up the pitch to Taggart who found Colli with a first time touch to his left. Colli turned it around the corner for Williams to run 50 yards into the box, he cut inside Bonetig and then found a gap at the near post to make it a full deserved 2-0.
Simmons and Margush prevented the game going from bad to embarrassing when Simmons managed to block a 3 on 1 from ending in a shot, then Margush had to make a full length stop from Taggart. Ninkovic's frustration turned into a yellow card foul on Colli in the 92nd minute.
A 94th minute foul on Ninkovic opened a glimmer of hope, right on the edge of the area, needing to score from the free kick to have any hope of a draw, Antonsson had done nothing the entire game, he stepped up and took a low, poorly aimed shot to the side of the goalkeeper that Sail palmed away without much trouble for a corner. Marcelo had been threatening the entire night to get on the scoresheet and he finally hit the target with a minute to play. It mattered little in the end as Perth held on for a 2-1 win, their first away win in 17 matches.
The Wanderers next game is against Western United in Hobart, Tasmania on the 27th of January with kick-off at 5pm Sydney time.
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