Perth Glory’s undefeated run at Macedonia Park has come to an end as Ruben Zadkovich’s side succumbed to a 4-2 defeat against a rampant Melbourne City side on Saturday night.
Jordan Bos’ 16th-minute curler into the top right corner further staked his claim to not only be a Socceroo, but for him to make an eventual move to Europe.
Bos was an integral cog in how City would move the ball forward as his driving runs and speed made him a prominent outlet.
City’s opener was cancelled out shortly after Jack Clisby’s free kick from a tight angle found its way into the back of the net.
Question marks should be raised about Tom Glover’s goalkeeping in that moment as it appeared the ball went straight through him.
Unfortunately for the Glory’s goalkeeper, Cameron Cook, he didn’t have his best night either.
Now, I’d like to think that I’m fair when it comes to my praise and criticism.
For a player like Cook, who I and many other fans wanted in the side, he’s received a fair amount of praise and love from the Glory faithful but during the game, he just seemed like he was not at his sharpest.
A loose pass just before half-time should’ve been punished by Richard van der Venne and then for City’s third goal, his hesitancy on his line and subsequent poor punch led to Matthew Leckie’s incredible goal.
While these mistakes happened, I’m sure Cook will have the mentality to bounce back next week as will all of the players.
City’s penalty decision was a controversial one as it led to the sending off of Darryl Lachman.
By the letter of the law, he was the last man and as it was a “DOGSO” (Denying an Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity) he had to receive the red card, which will see the Curaçao international miss this weekend’s clash at home against the Mariners.
It looked like a fair contest but the referee saw otherwise, and this leads me to Daniel Elder.
I felt that the referee had a shocker. This wasn’t why we lost but it did play a part in terms of momentum.
The penalty for Glory that was cancelled out from VAR was a contentious decision – the frame that was used to make the offside call made it seem like it was taken after Clisby had kicked the ball.
The referee was also unable to maintain a proper flow of the game and Glory were on the receiving end of a lot of poor calls while also not getting many in their favour.
In terms of my overall reflections on the game, you cannot fault the effort of the players. They gave everything, even when they went down to ten men.
Going up against City is a daunting challenge but I felt the players were really focused and determined to get a result.
We did exceptionally well to come back on both occasions. David Williams’ second equaliser to make it 2-2 was the product of some fantastic work by Keegan Jelacic and the experienced forward did the rest.
Unfortunately, this loss just showed that we still have a fair bit to go in the rebuilding phase.
City in fairness are levels above most teams in the competition but we’re not that far away if we think about it.
The fact we competed for essentially all of the game and made it difficult for them is a testament to the players.
Second, we’ve got some excellent young talent coming through. I’m talking about Jelacic, who was outstanding, and Luke Bodnar who was also superb. Cameron Cook will rebound from the performance.
There is a process and we are getting there.
I think finals is still a possibility. We shouldn’t get too down about this result and we’ve still got a few more games at Macedonia Park and then HBF Park later on.
There are reasons to be positive. Bring on the Mariners on Saturday.
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