Ruben Zadkovich has to find the answers to these two questions quickly: Why haven’t the Glory been able to perform well away from home and how can he rectify it?
The gulf between the two is the biggest I’ve seen in a long time. One defeat in nine at Macedonia Park, one win in nine outside of WA.
The reason for our poor record in the white kit is simple: we don’t create enough chances and we don’t find the back of the net.
Seventeen goals have been scored in front of the home faithful this season, nearly two per game. On our travels, its less than a goal per game with seven in total.
It’s getting to make or break time for this team. There’s two months left to go until the finals and we just blew a big chance to close the gap to the teams above us.
The opportunity presented itself perfectly. Wellington, Sydney and Newcastle all dropped points and our opponents were on the bottom, missing key players and had just sacked their coach Warren Moon.
Looking at our starting line up, I agreed with most people on social media it was the best eleven we’d put out all season. With Mustafa Amini and Darryl Lachman brought back into the fray, the side on paper looked good enough to beat a Brisbane Roar team missing big names Jay O’Shea and Robbie Kruse.
Despite their ladder position, the Roar have one of the best defences in the league and made it difficult to create goal scoring opportunities throughout the match, and especially in the second half when they sat deep late on.
With the speedy Nikola Mileusnic leading the line, Nick Green’s side played on the counter and utilised the pace of their frontman. He had the first chance of the game early, getting one on one with Lachman on the break and shooting straight at Cameron Cook.
Most of the Glory play came on the right through Khelifi and Williams, who was getting the better of Jordan Courtney-Perkins early on. Taggart in the middle didn’t see much action apart from a glancing header which was cleared off the line from a corner.
Although the right side of the pitch saw most of the action, the opening goal came from the left thanks to Jack Clisby. A switch from Amini found the fullback who took it down very well to set up a shot on his opposite foot, finessing it perfectly into the far corner for his third goal of the season.
The lead didn’t last long. Our defending from open play had been good for the first half hour, but just like in the reverse fixture it was a set piece from Carlo Armiento which brought about the equaliser. The in-swinging corner came in close enough to Cook that I think he should have gone for it. He opted to stay on his line and it was Tom Aldred who got above Jordan Elsey and a few others to nod home from close range.
The goal immediately sparked Brisbane into life, upping their tempo and getting a few efforts in from distance. Just as half time was approaching Amini lost the ball in a dangerous area. Mileusnic found Henry Hore out wide who shot from just inside the box, taking a slight deflection off Elsey and creeping in under the body of Cook who should have done better.
With Liam Reddy seemingly out the door come season’s end, Cook’s spot isn’t really being troubled. Even though we’ve got Pierce Clarke as the third-choice keeper, I don’t think Zadkovich will want to bring him in for the key fixtures coming up.
Should Cook be dropped? I’m saying no. Out of the keepers we’ve got at our disposal right now; I still believe he’s the go to. Next season is a different story as it appears we will have Oliver Sail between the sticks, and if Cook wants to challenge for the goalie spot he’ll need to find form or he’ll be stuck on the bench come October.
The second half was a bit of a dire affair with chances few and far between for the Glory. Aaron McEneff had a shot from distance saved well by Jordan Holmes straight after coming on and Adam Zimarino hit the woodwork from long range in additional time.
Brisbane leapt above three teams on the table, including us, with a win in Nick Green’s first game in charge. The defence stood strong in the second half led by Tom Aldred and in the absence of O’Shea, the pairing of Rahmat Akbari and Taras Gomulka were instrumental and got the better of Amini and Luke Bodnar.
The Glory have now lost seven out of nine matches away from home, a horrible run which looks likely to kill our finals run if we can’t amend it. On the plus side there’s only one match between now and the HBF Park homecoming against the Wanderers next Friday. It’s Western United in Ballarat, and we’ll be missing Ryan Williams through suspension and Lachman through injury.
They’re right behind us on the table and there’s the very real possibility we could be back on the bottom if we lose and Victory win the Big Blue. Having said that, a win could put us right back in the mix for the top six. There’s a lot at stake on Saturday as we search for a second away win of the season and a first win in six.
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