Glory tasted defeat in their opening Surf City Cup game at the Croatian Sports Centre in Carrara as Brisbane Roar edged home 1-0 courtesy of Jai Ingham’s second-half effort.
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Tony Popovic’s men dominated for long periods of the game and went close through Soo-beom Kim and Bruno Fornaroli in the first half and Chris Harold, Gabriel Popovic and Nick D’Agostino after the break.
But the game was decided by a rapid counter-attack just after the hour-mark in which Dauntae Mariner got away down the Brisbane left and provided a low cross for Ingham who swept the ball past Tando Velaphi.
Glory fielded 20 players over the course of the 90 minutes and they enjoyed the bulk of the possession throughout the contest without quite managing to unlock a resolute Roar defence.
D’Agostino and Fornaroli fired the WA side’s first chances of the night over the bar from similar positions just inside the box, but it was Kim who went close to breaking the deadlock in the opening period, cutting in from the left and using his right foot to bend a crisp shot narrowly wide of the far post.
Roar’s best effort of the first half, meanwhile, came right on the stroke of half time when the lively Mirza Muratovic saw his fierce strike parried by Liam Reddy.
Glory made seven changes for the start of the second half and the new-look side was stunned soon after when Roar took the lead against the run of play.
Mariner was allowed to surge forward from the halfway line to the cusp of the penalty box before picking out Ingham who produced a composed finish to give his side the lead.
Harold almost brought Glory level ten minutes later with a lobbed effort which Max Crocombe in the Roar goal did well to reach and Crocombe again came to his side’s rescue in the 78th minute as he denied Harold and Popovic in quick succession.
The men in white continued to press right until the final whistle, but it wasn’t to be as the Queenslanders dug deep to keep them out and secure the win.
Match Details
Surf City Cup 2019
Perth Glory 0 Brisbane Roar 1 (Ingham 61′)
Half-time 0-0
Croatian Sports Centre, Carrara
Perth Glory: 33.Liam REDDY (GK) (1.Tando VELAPHI (GK) 46′), 3.Jacob TRATT (25.Ethan BROOKS 46′), 5.Ivan FRANJIC, 10.Bruno FORNAROLI (28.Gabriel POPOVIC 46′), 12.Soo-beom KIM (22.Riley WARLAND 46′), 13.Osama MALIK (16.Tomislav MRCELA 46′) ,15.Brandon WILSON, 17.Diego CASTRO (14.Chris HAROLD 46′), 18.Nick D’AGOSTINO, 27.Juande (29.Kristian POPOVIC 61′), 88.Neil KILKENNY (20.Jake BRIMMER 46′) (26.Luke BODNAR 65′)
Substitutes not used: None
Yellow Cards: Wilson
Red Cards: None
Brisbane Roar: 1.Max CROCOMBE (GK), 2.Emlyn WELLSMORE, 3.Kai TREWIN, 5.Izaack POWELL, 6.Oscar WOODS, 7.Jai INGHAM, 8.Jacob PEPPER, 9.Mirza MURATOVIC, 11.Dauntae MARINER, 14.George MELLS, 15.Aaron REARDON
Substitutes: 4.Jai OAKES, 10.Harry TALBOT, 12.Tyson MARTIN, 16.Nick SETTE, 18.Hassan RAMAZANI, 31.Macklin FREKE
Yellow Cards: None
Red Cards: None
#OneGlory
Picture courtesy of Paul Smith
