Under the Friday night lights at HBF Park, an opportunity presented itself to pick up some much-needed points. So close yet so far, yet again.
A very strong Melbourne City side came over to Perth and got the job done. The gulf in overall quality was bigger on paper between the two teams than it was on the pitch.
City had double the shots on target and dominated the ball up until the final 10 minutes when they shut up shop.
The stats point to a deserved win for the visitors, but I walked away from HBF Park last week thinking Glory could and should have got something out of the contest.
The obvious starting point is the first penalty, a period of mayhem in the game that started when Callum Talbot had a red card downgraded to a yellow for a challenge on Salim Khelifi.
The resulting free kick summoned the referee Daniel Cook over to the monitor again after shouts of a handball from Mathew Leckie.
The spot kick was given and Khelifi stepped up to take it. A quick run up and shot thundered off the post and back out into play, a collective groan ringing out inside the stadium the instant the ball cannoned into the upright.
From then on it was all City for the next 20 minutes, holding onto the ball and creating the odd chance here and there. Jamie Maclaren had a header drift slowly wide and Hamza Sakhi struck the post from distance.
When it looked as if the half was petering out, a piece of poor defending from Johnny Koutroumbis gifted the chance for City to take the lead.
A grab on the arm of Tolgay Arslan brought out VAR for the third time, and again a penalty was awarded. A very soft penalty in my opinion but doesn’t take away from the fact it was a bad lapse in judgement from the right back.
The German slotted the penalty home in front of the Shed end, waiting for Cameron Cook to pick a side and then placing his shot the other way.
Minus the penalty, an equaliser didn’t appear to be on the cards before the break. That was until a back pass to Jamie Young was pounced upon by Adam Taggart, reaching the ball first and rounding the keeper to bag his fourth goal of the season and his third in four games.
A strong end to the first half didn’t alter the momentum heading into the second, where City picked themselves back up and controlled possession.
When poise and composure was needed when we did have the ball in the attacking areas, we lacked it and gave it away too cheaply.
Aurelio Vidmar’s side were knocking on the door and eventually kicked it in with around a quarter of the game to go. Aziz Behich received the ball out wide and found enough space to loop a cross into the centre. Waiting and timing his leap, Leckie got over the top of Mark Beevers to nod home and regain the lead.
Fresh subs and City’s decision to hold onto their lead set the tone for the final 10 minutes. Glory had all the possession and whipped in many crosses in an attempt to level the scores.
Unsurprisingly, it was Taggart who was on the end of the best goalscoring chances, twice coming close with headers and another two times from inside the box.
The first came from a brilliant touch and shoot and the second from a poor clearance which he should have done better with.
One of my biggest concerns at the moment is the end product. Other than Taggart, I don’t see where else goals are going to be coming from on a consistent basis.
David Williams is just coming back from injury and should add a few. Luke Ivanovic hasn’t scored in purple yet, Khelifi has scored twice and they came in the same game last season.
Stef Colakovski is the only other player with multiple goals to his name. He was quiet against his former side, playing as the second striker with Ivanovic more on the right.
Alen Stajcic has tried Bennie and Colakovski alongside Taggart and they’ve both been less effective. My feeling is that once Williams is ready to go, he’ll start with Taggart which will allow one of the other two to play wider with Khelifi.
Millie takes us to the top
Millie Farrow was bound to start scoring eventually. The defeat against Wellington came with the silver lining that the Englishwoman was off the mark, and ready to crack on.
First versus second, the stage was set for Farrow to take the game by the horns and lead the Glory girls back to the top of the A-League Women’s ladder.
The last Glory woman to score a hattrick was Sam Kerr. Not bad company to keep for the ex-Chelsea forward.
There were some new faces in Alex Epakis’ starting lineup, with Sadie Lawrence and Isobel Dalton featuring in a new look defence.
Grace Jale was left on the bench, opening a spot for Quinley Quezada to slot into. The prospect of Jale, Farrow and Quezada all starting sounds like a nightmare for opposing teams.
All the tests thrown at this team have been passed with flying colours. The first loss was a blip on the radar, the response to it a much bigger indicator of the strength of the squad and the heights they could possibly reach.
The Wrap Up
The women have played second, third and fourth on the ladder in a row. A different challenge awaits on Sunday night, a home clash against the reigning champions Sydney FC.
While they aim to keep their spot at the peak, the men have to try and keep pace with the rest of the pack. Back on the road this week, facing Newcastle for the second time.
The Jets are coming off their best performance of the season, a convincing 3-0 win in Wellington which handed the Phoenix their first loss of the season.
They were missing some key players in round one and have others in fine form. Ours has to turn around at some point. The opening game should give us confidence; we’re good enough to beat them and boy do we need it more than ever.
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