Character. Guts. Courage. Those are probably the three best descriptors for this incredible win for the Perth Glory, who defeated the Western Sydney Wanderers away from home 2-1.
After a tumultuous week for the club off the pitch, there was a massive task standing in the way for the players in this game.
The Wanderers, while their form had been like a yo-yo the last few games, came into the contest off the back of beating Melbourne City the prior week, playing some very good football.
With the news of Salim Khelifi and Aaron McEneff both departing the club in the 48 hours leading into the game, the goal of securing an away win for the first time in 15 months was made all the more challenging.
Glory probably didn’t begin the game as well as they could’ve in all honesty. Marko Rudan’s side started on the front foot, as the Glory seemed quite cagey and nervous.
The Wanderers had a few chances in the opening 20 minutes, but they failed to capitalise on their hot start.
Riley Warland made an impressive goal-line clearance to prevent the hosts taking the lead in the 21st minute.
From that point on, Alen Stajcic’s side grew into the game and the transition work once the players regained the ball was elite-level stuff.
Mustafa Amini hassled his opponent on the ball high up the pitch and then found Stefan Colakovski whose cross was met by striker Adam Taggart but his powerful header went just wide.
Taggart was instrumental in the shift in momentum in the first half in particular.
I spoke with a few fans at the game, and they made the point that the Glory captain gave quite a few of his teammates a bake early on in the first half.
The Socceroo almost put the Glory ahead in the 24th minute. A great ball across from Stefan Colakovski allowed Taggart to strike from close range, however a fantastic save from Daniel Margush prevented the 30-year-old from continuing his hot form in front of goal.
Margush could do nothing about the following shot from the Glory about 10 minutes later.
Darryl Lachman sent something of a chaos ball forward via his header, which was eventually met by Bruce Kamau.
At that point, both Adam Taggart and Stefan Colakovski were off. Kamau found Taggart with a delightful ball, and he in turn fed Colakovski first time and the finish was outstanding.
There was a delay with VAR checking the goal, but what that passage of play showed was a reward for the Glory’s persistence to kill the Wanderers in transition.
The goal itself was brilliant, as the goalkeeper Margush was left rooted to the spot.
From there, the Glory mostly defended but looked for small gaps for both Taggart and Colakovski to work some magic.
Colakovski was almost able to repay the favour to Taggart. The striker latched onto the winger’s through ball and was unlucky to have his shot blocked by a defender.
The Glory started the second half with that same level of intensity and had a few really good chances to get another goal.
David Williams thought he doubled the Glory’s lead as he tapped home the parry from Daniel Margush, however the goal was ruled out to offside due to Taggart being offside in the lead-up.
From there, the Wanderers didn’t really threaten Oli Sail in goal. Aside from a long-range Josh Brillante strike, Marko Rudan’s side struggled for answers to break the Glory down.
Finally, in the 86th minute, David Williams was able to put the icing on the cake, as the Glory sprung forward in yet another counterattack, and after some great individual work, he was able to finish really cooly.
It looked like the Glory were finally going to break their curse in away games, or so we thought until Marcelo, the Wanderers’ inspirational captain, grabbed a late goal with a minute or so left in added time.
The closing stages had many Glory fans with their hearts in their mouth, as it was a very nervy end.
But the referee finally blew his whistle and it marked the end of a 15-month wait for the Glory, they finally won a game away from home.
It was a really gutsy performance given everything that has happened, not just the past week, but the whole season. It’s been very tough.
Those players fought tooth and nail, and when it counted most they were the better side.
The link-ups in offensive transition, particularly with Adam Taggart and Stefan Colakovski were outstanding.
Oli Sail, who came in as a surprise selection for Cam Cook, was brilliant in goal as well, and his presence gave the team another level.
The Glory will head home back to WA for the week and then fly back over to NSW to take on Macarthur, in what should hopefully be a great contest.
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