When you have the ambition to play finals football, you need to have a great level of resilience and character. The Glory showed just that today.
Going into the game, I think it’s fair to suggest that many felt that the outcome of this clash would be pivotal in our hopes for a spot in the top 6.
But those first 20 minutes left Glory with some mountain to climb.
There’s no secret that the trip from Perth to Wellington is a taxing one on the players, from a physical and mental viewpoint.
In saying that, for me, that start was unacceptable.
Oscar Zawada opened the scoring for the hosts as he was left unmarked in the box and with a free header, he put Wellington in front just 11 minutes in.
Nine minutes later, a mistake from young keeper Cameron Cook saw Kosta Barbarouses poke the ball home from close range.
Something I think that can’t be questioned, especially from what we’ve seen since the World Cup break, is the mentality of this Glory side.
Ruben Zadkovich from day one has said that his belief never wavers. We saw that with his players against the Phoenix.
Typically, we would’ve expected the Glory to accept the two goal deficit and probably concede a few more.
But there just seems to be a spark in this team that when the chips are down, they’ll give everything and fight until the last minute.
It’s a cliché statement, but ultimately, it was this mentality of character, persistence and resilience that saw Glory get back in the game.
Johnny Koutroumbis burst past Lucas Mauragis, crossed, and then followed up on the goalkeeper parrying the ball into his path, headed it across the face of the goal where David Williams scored from close range.
Two minutes after conceding, the Glory had hit back and you could feel it was game on.
A contentious decision midway through the second half saw Wellington defender Tim Payne have a yellow card upgraded to a red card, as the VAR interpreted his foul as an obvious goal scoring opportunity.
From that moment, the Glory really took control.
Fans might’ve been frustrated at the Glory moving the ball side to side and not penetrating but the reality was, Wellington were defending incredibly deep.
They were compact and resolute as they defended in what appeared to be a back five, followed by three midfielders in front. and then Zawada just in front.
Glory had to get things right, players had to move into the correct areas. Keegan Jelacic copped a spray from Zadkovich from the sideline, as he moved into Jacob Dowse’s space.
Dowse proved to be influential again off the bench as his deliveries into the box were causing all sorts of trouble for the Wellington defenders.
In the 80th minute, as the Glory finally got Dowse one-on-one with his opponent, he whipped a dangerous ball in and David Williams headed home at the near post, completing the comeback for the Glory.
There were a few opportunities not long after where the Glory could’ve grabbed all three points as Giordano Colli and Mark Beevers were denied by the crossbar, while Adam Zimarino missed from point blank with a header.
Upon reflection, the Glory probably should’ve won the contest
I think the game illustrated a few things for me at least to conclude.
The first is that although our mindset whenever we go behind has been exceptional, the brain fades defensively have got to stop.
We cannot be gifting cheap goals to the opposition. Aside from the two Wellington scored, they created next to no good opportunities aside from Bozhidar Kraev’s chance in the second half.
This was reflected in the Nix’s rather low xG of 0.53.
The second is that Glory need a number 10 for next season. When teams defend really deep, Glory have struggled to break it down.
Having a playmaker who can play those final balls or initiate those quick combinations to pull the defenders out could be really crucial, should we move for a player of that level of quality either in this transfer window or the next.
The third is that Glory have got to punish teams.
I know we were away from home, and the level of resiliency from the group to come back from two goals down is exceptional, but we did more than enough to win the game.
We finished the game with an xG of 1.94, created three big chances and missed one of those chances.
Zadkovich’s side showed more than enough in the attacking third to grab that third goal, but we just didn’t have the quality in the end to finish those chances.
A draw is never a terrible result and for the moment the Glory are in seventh place, a point outside the finals spots.
We now have three very important home fixtures to come against Newcastle Jets, Melbourne City and Central Coast Mariners.
These are huge games. We’ve been very good at home thus far. If there was a time to go to Macedonia Park and watch the Glory, it would be then.
The team is building and there is a strong possibility we can make the finals this season.
Bring on Newcastle on Saturday.
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