Probably one of the craziest games we’ve ever seen in the A-League saw multiple lead changes and an insane final five minutes. Ultimately, neither Perth Glory nor Adelaide United could be separated after 100 minutes of pulsating football.
It’s funny how there were comments made during the week that the A-League as a competition was ‘not entertaining at all’, yet for all of the members and fans who either went to HBF Park to watch the game or via the Paramount+ stream, you could definitely say you got your money’s worth.
In the first half, it was an end-to-end contest, with both sides having decent chances.
Ryan Williams opened the scoring in the 32nd minute, following a wonderful long ball over the top of the Adelaide defence by Luke Bodnar and the finish from Williams was very composed, a delicate chip over the imposing but in-form goalkeeper, Joe Gauci.
That lead lasted barely a few minutes, as Adelaide were down at the other end, the ball was bouncing about in our box and young Luka Jovanovic was able to get to the ball before Cameron Cook could leap on top of it.
The second half was played out in a similar fashion to the first, but the game was noticeably more open as the half wore on.
Adelaide hit the lead in the 51st minute, as Ryan Kitto’s cross was deflected by an outstretched Jack Clisby, and as the ball smacked off the post, Craig Goodwin tapped the ball home giving the Reds a precious lead away from home.
Credit to the Glory’s character, they didn’t roll over. Adam Taggart missed a few chances in the first half, but he made sure to bury his header in the 60th minute, following a wonderful cross from Ryan Williams.
Then the topsy-turvy nature of the game came back to haunt the Glory, as Adelaide had another goal that they tapped in from close range, this time from Ryan Kitto. Craig Goodwin made a run into the box, unmarked, smashed his cross across the face of the goal, the ball deflected off the post again and Kitto poked the ball home.
There was a suggestion of offside and the VAR looked into it, but ultimately the referee, Jack Morgan, was satisfied that it was a goal, to the displeasure of the 6083 crowd at HBF Park.
The game certainly got a bit heated at some moments, as Craig Goodwin was shown a yellow card in the 89th minute, as Mustafa Amini fairly bumped him off the ball and then Goodwin lashed out with a rash slide tackle. It was rather amusing seeing the Adelaide bench that animated.
Young-gun Adam Zimarino gave the Glory a fighting chance in the third minute of added time, following a very determined finish, as he burrowed his way through the defenders and forced the ball home. It’s fantastic that he’s in great form at the moment, and like I said last week, it’s a clear reward for his efforts.
Then astonishingly, Glory hit the lead in the 95th minute, as Adam Taggart judged an aerial contest better than his opponent, carried the ball about 30 or 40 metres, and launched an absolute missile into the bottom left corner.
The limbs at the ground were insane and for all our money’s worth, it looked like Glory got a very lucky win.
But it wasn’t to be.
Nestroy Irankunda, who was causing our backline plenty of problems, grabbed the equaliser late into added time, as his rocket from a tight angle made its way into the bottom corner.
It was perhaps a fitting end to what was a crazy game, as both teams gave everything.
I think if we were to look at it from an analytical perspective however, Glory should count themselves very lucky.
Adelaide had plenty of opportunities, that perhaps on another day they would’ve converted.
From the Glory’s perspective, there are a few things I would conclude.
For one, the defensive organisation has been pretty sloppy the last few weeks and a couple of our experienced guys are clearly not at the races.
The second thing, our methodology for how we approach factors like our build-up play or our chance creation phases, it needs to be a fair bit more strategic than just a hopeful long ball over the top or a cross to an underloaded box.
Special mentions go out to Adam Taggart and Ryan Williams, who were both incredible in my eyes. Their workrate and their goals were fantastic, and it’s a testament to the club that they managed to bring home two exciting WA products.
It’s a massive game on Saturday against Western United. It could potentially be a season definer if other results can go our way.
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