It wasn’t the world’s greatest performance from the Perth Glory, but a win’s a win.
A 2-0 win at home against last season’s champions with second-half goals from Stefan Colakovski and Adam Taggart is a solid result in what was Alen Stajcic’s first win as the Glory’s head coach.
It all began in the hour before kick-off, as the team sheets were released and Oli Sail was not starting in goal for the Glory.
A big call from Stajcic but one that proved to be a good decision as Cameron Cook was arguably one of the best players on the pitch.
In the first half, it was pretty even albeit the Mariners had the edge.
The away side controlled the ball with the Glory looking for triggers to pounce and then launch a quick attack.
Johnny Koutroumbis’ cross towards Adam Taggart was perhaps the Glory’s best movement of the first half, where Taggart was unfortunate not to get a better connection on the strike.
It was also a huge positive for the Glory fans to see Salim Khelifi back out there.
Sidelined through injury, the Tunisian winger returned to the side and provided the Glory with a real sense of attacking impetus with his trickery and quick thinking.
Khelifi only lasted until the break, with Stajcic taking him off as what seemed to be a precautionary measure.
His replacement, Stefan Colakovski, had an almost instant impact.
A feature of Alen Stajcic’s imprint that’s clear within the team is the desire to attack the space at high speed.
The Mariners had their corner, only for the Glory to effectively clear their lines, where Bruce Kamau was found in space, who then found Adam Taggart in an advanced position.
Brian Kaltak tried to intercept only for his intervention to land nicely in Taggart’s path. The striker then laid the ball off to Colakovski who slotted his strike under Danny Vukovic.
Seeing Colakovski celebrate with such passion, the fans could see he was really enjoying his football, which was sorely missed last season.
The goal was the product of a really exciting counterattack and it was exactly the boost the side needed given the pressure they were put under by the Mariners.
The away side didn’t let up in fairness, as they continued pressing for an equaliser.
Mark Jackson’s side definitely had their chances, but it’s also fair to say that they butchered way too many of those chances, which has been a big problem for them thus far this season.
Alen Stajcic’s side thought they had a much-needed second goal when Adam Taggart burst through and slotted the ball underneath Vukovic only for the goal to be ruled out for offside.
However, in a rather bizarre moment leading into that offside goal, Colombian winger Ángel Torres was sent off after VAR found he had struck Jacob Muir on the back of the head.
Despite the man advantage, the Glory couldn’t really control the game which was disappointing, however we found a way, which was the most important thing.
Riley Warland, who just came on for Aleksandar Šušnjar, showed some clever footwork before firing a low ball into the feet of Adam Taggart, who after two touches, launched a rocket into the bottom corner, deflecting off Danny Vukovic, giving the Glory that much needed second goal.
The delight around HBF Park was palpable as it was a collective sigh of relief from the fans.
In terms of my post-match thoughts, like I said to begin with, it wasn’t the greatest performance but we got the job done.
I think we sat off far too much in the second half and didn’t exert enough control in the game, which was disappointing.
I also felt if the Mariners were a little more polished we could’ve easily lost. Something that needs to be addressed is our midfield composition, I believe.
Over the last two games, I’ve felt that our midfield has been far too open and both Oli Bozanic and Giordano Colli have struggled to cover a fair amount of the pitch, whether it’s when we have the ball or when we’re defending.
However, on a more positive note, our clinical nature in front of goal was really pleasing. In clutch moments, we took our opportunities which was really important.
Currently, the Glory sit in sixth place and they’ve got a very difficult trip to the Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday.
The challenge has been compounded with both Oli Bozanic and Jarrod Carluccio being ruled out due to the loan agreement with the Wanderers, so hopefully Mustafa Amini or Luke Bodnar will be available for selection for the game.
But as Stajcic said in the post-game presser, the league has shown that anyone can beat anyone on their day.
It’ll be a difficult game but the win against a decent Mariners side will go a long way in terms of giving the players a big boost of confidence to hopefully get something out of what will be a pretty big clash against Marko Rudan’s side.
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