A 93rd minute match-winning goal at HBF Park, a 87th minute sealer two weeks ago, and a marvellous 93rd minute equaliser to take a point from Campbelltown.
The A-League has seen its fair share of super subs over the years, from Henrique at the Roar, Brendon Santalab in Western Sydney and most recently Nestory Irankunda for Adelaide.
Super subs at the Glory have been sporadic. In his early years Jamie Maclaren made a name for himself with his late goals, while more recently Joel Chianese had a knack of finding the net off the bench during the Tony Popovic era.
Under a month shy of his 36th birthday, David Williams is thriving in this role for Alen Stajcic.
In his last six games he has registered the three goals listed at the top and an assist and is currently leading the way for goals scored by substitutes this season.
The goal from the weekend was the pick of the bunch, receiving the ball on the edge of the box and driving forward, evading the challenge of Ivan Vujica before striking low and hard past bodies from a tight angle.
Taking a point from Macarthur was the least we deserved out of the game, one which lacked urgency and enthusiasm from both teams in the first half before the Glory upped the tempo and intensity after the break.
The Bulls took an early lead through a quick and well-built attack. A long ball to Raphael Borges Rodrigues set the play in motion, who took it to the edge of the box and passed to Valere Germain.
The Frenchman laid it through to an unmarked Ulises Davila, who took one touch and then delicately dinked the ball over Oli Sail for his fifth goal in three games.
A dire opening 45 was almost made worse by a huge mistake from Mustafa Amini, gifting the ball to Davila in the box. Sail closed the space well and denied the Mexican an easy shot; he had to pass it off to Raphael who put his effort narrowly wide.
Crosses were the main port of call for the attack, and it didn’t pay off. The Glory swung in 35 crosses total, eight of which were accurate.
The ball movement was far too slow for any of the wide players or the strike partnership to get at the Bulls backline or test Filip Kurto in goal. The only shot on target for the whole half was the goal by Davila.
Once the second half got underway, the difference was night the day. Not letting the Macarthur defence sit back and get organised by moving the ball quicker opened up the avenues for goal scoring opportunities.
Luke Ivanovic was the recipient of two of the better chances before the eventual equaliser, the first from a lovely sequence of passes starting from Aleksandar Susnjar deep in defence and ending with a cutback from Daniel Bennie which saw his shot blocked.
The second came from a Riley Warland cross, a peach of a ball to the striker which came off his thigh and just missed the target.
He was subbed out for Williams in the 57th minute, having really struggled to fill the shoes of the absent Adam Taggart, who was ruled out with an injury.
All the pushing and probing paid off when Johnny Koutroumbis was fouled in the box by Kearyn Baccus. The right back had a phenomenal outing, stifling the threat of Raphael out wide and was heavily involved in some of Glory’s best attacking moments.
Amini took the initiative and smashed his penalty straight down the middle, finally opening his Glory account.
A high percentage of goals in games involving both teams have come in the last 15, so it wasn’t a surprise when Mile Sterjovski’s side got the lead back.
Susnjar was stuck defending Germain in a 1v1 and let the striker slip through. Grabbing a handful of shirt, the Frenchman fell forward in the box and after a moment of thought, referee Daniel Elder pointed to the spot.
It was a soft penalty, one that didn’t see any appeals from the Macarthur side. However, the constant shirt pulling from Susnjar was silly and costly as Germain put away the penalty convincingly.
Stef Colakovski had a poorly struck volley saved comfortably by Kurto before Williams’ heroics in the 93rd minute broke Macarthur hearts for the second time this season.
Women’s side drop to fourth
The form slump for Alex Epakis’ side continued with a disappointing 2-1 loss to Adelaide last Saturday.
The Glory had taken the lead through Hana Lowry’s volley in the 23rd minute, set up by a cross from Liz Anton having executed a one-two with Sofia Sakalis.
Izzy Hodgson missed a big chance to level just after the half hour mark but found the net right on the stroke on half time from Alana Jancevski’s cross.
A rare mistake from Morgan Aquino saw the lead slip into the hands of the Reds right after the break, with Nanako Sasaki attributed the winning goal.
Adelaide looked most likely to score again, coming close to finding a third but were unable to find a way past Aquino again.
The defeat puts the Glory in fourth, the last finals spot available. A win for Western Sydney in their game in hand would put the Glory in fifth, but still only a point adrift of Sydney in second.
The Wrap Up
A win is desperately needed for the women’s side as the final stretch to the end of the season nears closer. The competition is very even, and as the weekend proved every game can be a dangerous one.
They take on Sydney away in a huge clash. Melbourne City look comfortable at the top, but second down to eighth is separated by just four points.
Speaking of Melbourne City, the men’s side return home for the first time in four weeks and will take on Aurelio Vidmar’s side.
Buoyed by the signing of James Jeggo and the return on loan of Marco Tilio, the form side of the last few seasons are yet to crack on this season, sitting in sixth after a less than convincing 1-0 win over Adelaide.
Adam Taggart remains in doubt but good news came in the form of a free loan signing, with Josh Rawlins returning for the rest of the season. He is another who may feature on Friday night, in what could be the biggest home game of the season.
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