Despite Salim Khelifi returning to the side with an impressive brace, Jason Cummings made sure that Perth Glory would claim just one point from their clash against the Central Coast Mariners.
It was a bright start from the away side, as they forced Cameron Cook into making a number of smart saves to keep the scores level.
After 13 minutes, the Mariners had seven shots at goal to the Glory’s one, but it was the hosts who broke the deadlock just 16 minutes in, as the returning Tunisian winger Khelifi scored a fantastic free-kick from close range.
The ball whizzed over the wall and flew into the top left corner, giving Mariners keeper Danny Vukovic no chance.
It was very much against the run of play but you can’t take anything away from the strike. It was fantastic.
The Glory could’ve made it 2-0 just a few minutes later, as some crisp passing from Adam Taggart to Jack Clisby, saw Keegan Jelacic play Taggart in, who had his shot against Vukovic saved at the near post.
Despite being a goal down, however, the Mariners continued to knock on the door, as they had a few opportunities not long after.
A handball from Brian Kaltak, who had just returned to the Mariners’ side following suspension, saw the Glory have a penalty just five minutes into the second half.
Up stepped Salim Khelifi, who was full of confidence following that free kick, and he dispatched the penalty with a similar class.
But unfortunately, not long after going 2-0 up, you could feel the game was very much swinging in favour of the Mariners.
Jacob Farrell’s header was very unlucky not to go in, as it smashed against the crossbar.
The Mariners continued to pound on the door, looking for a way back into the game and they got that following Johnny Koutroumbis’ handball.
While it appeared that the defender didn’t intentionally play the ball with his hand, it was in an unnatural position and by the letter of the law, it was a penalty.
The Socceroo, Jason Cummings, scored the subsequent penalty making it 2-1.
It was going to be a very nervy finish for the Glory, especially with the Mariners scoring with just 15 minutes to go.
Just over five minutes later and the Mariners had another penalty, this time from Aaron McEneff, who had also just returned from injury, sticking his leg out and tripping Christian Theoharous.
To no real surprise, the Cumdog scored the penalty which many assumed would set up a grandstand finish.
Adam Zimarino missed a golden opportunity in the 84th minute, as he did well to get in a good position to finish Keegan Jelacic’s cross but he unfortunately struck the ball straight at the keeper.
It just wasn’t to be for Zimarino as he missed another great chance just five minutes later when Keegan Jelacic played a fantastic through ball to the advantage of the forward. However, he couldn’t poke his shot past Vukovic.
Despite both teams having some opportunities, neither side could find the winner.
In terms of how I viewed the game, this was a big blow in the race for a spot in the finals.
The indication from the fans and members who went to Macedonia Park was that it was a big missed opportunity and two points dropped.
For the Glory to find themselves 2-0 up, despite not really having the lion’s share of possession and basically against the run of play, we had to do more to consolidate that advantage.
Unfortunately, we’ve developed this running theme of gifting teams opportunities back into games.
I’ve been praising this team more often than I haven’t since the World Cup break but a problem that’s been apparent since the first game of the season is that we can’t kill games.
By that I mean there have been a number of games where we couldn’t take full advantage of our leads in them, or we didn’t take our chances, or we would have defensive blunders that would ultimately prove costly for us.
The Glory under Ruben Zadkovich don’t control games, which isn’t to say we’re a bad team because when we have those transitional moments going forward when we can play with speed, we’re a dangerous side.
But, we just can’t keep hold of the ball and dictate teams to play how we want them to play.
Our midfield wasn’t one that was going to retain possession and give the backline a moment to reset and reorganise but also to maintain attacks, distribute the ball and penetrate the Mariners’ defensive shape.
Individually, Ryan Williams, Keegan Jelacic and Luke Bodnar are excellent players. However, Bodnar was the only recognised central midfielder who was in that midfield trio.
Jelacic is more of an advanced midfielder, while Williams is a winger, so to ask those two players, Williams especially, to perform roles that they aren’t perhaps the best in is a bit of a silly ask, in my view, especially against a side like the Mariners.
It’s all very well and good for me to make those observations in hindsight but perhaps not having Williams in his best position and also not having someone like Zach Duncan in the midfield, who’s a natural midfielder, those factors could’ve played a part on why we didn’t win the game.
Having said all of this, however, the Glory have got to treat every game like a final, especially if they want to make the finals.
It won’t be easy, but we do have some fixtures coming up that could help us get back into the conversation for a spot in the top six.
We move on to Brisbane next week, where we can hopefully grab a win and gain some much-needed momentum.
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