Two wins in two games, who’d have thought?!
It wasn’t pretty but the Glory got the job done against an in-form Brisbane Roar side at home in front of 3492 at Macedonia Park.
‘Big Daz’ Lachman made a run into the box from centre-back midway through the first half, read the parry from the goalkeeper and tucked the ball home to make it 1-0 for the hosts.
In the second half however, Brisbane started really well and their dominance was rewarded with an equaliser from Connor Chapman following a set piece.
The following six minutes were not pleasant in the slightest for the Roar, as the Glory took the lead following Mustafa Amini’s shot deflecting off Scott Neville and Jay O’Shea receiving a red card in rather controversial circumstances.
For the last 30 or so minutes, the Glory defended quite deep to see out the win. A 94th-minute scare following Nikola Mileusnic’s free-kick left the Glory members and fans biting their nails until the final whistle.
In terms of some concluding thoughts from the game, the first one to note is that Macedonia Park is becoming quite a fortress for the Glory.
Ruben Zadkovich’s side have picked up 10 points from a possible 12, which has seen the Glory move from last place to ninth, level with our opponents on Saturday in Sydney FC.
Something else to note is that this is the first time since late in the 2020/21 season that the Glory have picked up back-to-back wins, which is very pleasing to see.
Fans, neutral or supporters of the two teams may be questioning why there weren’t many clear-cut opportunities on goal.
Well, this game was very much a midfield battle, as the midfield third was the most dominant area (47%) used by both sides according to SofaScore.
I think what’s really important for the Glory’s structure and attacking flow as well will be the imminent introduction of new-signing, Adam Taggart.
Glory struggled to build the ball through the middle, with either Jack Clisby or Ryan Williams being the main outlets to progress the ball.
With Taggart coming into the side, most likely against Sydney FC on Saturday, it is likely to suggest that we’ll see the Glory use the middle as an avenue to progress the ball, given the 29-year-old likes to drop and receive in those areas.
What will concern Ruben Zadkovich at least heading into the next game against Sydney will be two things.
The first will be the quality of the deliveries into the box. Granted the conditions weren’t totally ideal, but only three of the Glory’s thirteen crosses were accurate. More often than not, the crosses were overhit or not delivered into good areas.
The second thing would be how the Glory approached the final 30 minutes. Whether it was by design or by circumstance, the Glory defended very deep despite having a man extra. We conceded territory and then upon regaining possession, we weren’t ruthless enough in transition.
But I think looking at the bigger picture, it’s crucial for this side, which in recent history struggled to win games, to currently be in decent form. The most important thing is winning games at this moment.
The performances will improve over the weeks once we get Taggart in the side but also as the team develops chemistry with each other and understands the strengths and weaknesses, we’ll see a better Perth Glory.
For now, we move on to a pretty important game against Sydney FC where if we get the win, we could really put ourselves in a good position to potentially challenge for a spot in the finals.
About the Author
