The Brisbane Roar and Perth Glory played out a 2-2 draw in their National Youth League clash at Goodwin Park on Sunday afternoon.
The Brisbane Roar and Perth Glory played out a 2-2 draw in their National Youth League clash at Goodwin Park on Sunday afternoon in a match where momentum swung back and forth.
The draw was a fair indication of how the match panned out, as there was little between the two sides.
The home side went in front early through Anthony Proia, but Perth had wrestled the lead away from them by half-time with goals from Brandon O’Neill and Ryan Lowry.
Brisbane’s Benjamin Liftin then struck early in the second half to tie the scores and neither side could find a winner.
The Roar got the opener within two minutes after a sweeping team move down the left.
Rocky Visconte slid the final pass to the dangerous Proia, who finished well past Glory ‘keeper Lewis Italiano.
On 13 minutes Roar No.10 Kwame Yeboah went on a swerving solo run down the right before shooting weakly at Italiano.
Perth’s Japanese import Ryo Nagai forced a spectacular save from Roar custodian Fraser Chalmers when he blasted a dipping shot at goal on 18 minutes.
A defensive lapse by the Roar backline after 22 minutes was exploited by Perth’s midfield hub O’Neill, who pounced on a loose ball just outside the Brisbane box and smacked a shot past Chalmers for the equalising goal.
Perth’s Ndumba Makeche burst dangerously into the Brisbane area on 34 minutes, but his shot was deflected by Chalmers and skidded just wide of the post.
The visitors went 2-1 up from the resulting corner, however, when central defender Lowry found the net after a goalmouth scramble.
Brisbane raced out of the blocks again in the second half, with Liftin ghosting into the box to make it 2-2 just after the break.
The Glory almost went in front again through a mixture of luck and good pressure, as Chalmers booted a clearance into a charging O’Neill’s head, the ball rebounding just over Brisbane’s open net.
Perth won an indirect free kick in the Brisbane box with 10 minutes to go, after Chalmers picked up a back pass as Moses Kalau charged towards him.
The free kick was laid on to substitute Jack Clisby, who blasted well over from close range.
Perth did most of the pressing in the final few minutes, but were unable to break through as the teams left with a point apiece.
Brisbane Roar 2 (Anthony Proia 2, Benjamin Liftin 48)
Perth Glory 2 (Brandon O’Neill 22, Ryan Lowry 35)
Brisbane Roar: 1. Fraser Chalmers (gk) 2. Matt Jurman, 3. Corey Brown (c), 5. George Lambadaridis, 8. Yuji Takahashi, 9. Benjamin Liftin, 10. Kwame Yeboah , 11. Anthony Proia (6. Ross Archibald 45), 14. Rocky Visconte, 16. James Meyer (13. Kenneth Dougall 59), 17. Sam Cronin (12. Cameron Crestani 59),
Perth Glory: 1. Lewis Italiano (gk), 2. Matthew Davies (c), 3. Ryan Lowry, 4. Steve Pantalidis, 5. Riley Woodcock, 6. Brandon O’Neill, 7. Adrian Zahra, 8. Blamo Quaqua (14. Moses Kalau 59), 9. Ndumba Makeche (11. Ryo Nagai 75 int), 10. Jesse Makarounas (13. Lawrence Shuruma 53), 11. Ryo Nagai (12. Jack Clisby 59)
