Glory secured a valuable and hard-earned point from their Round 23 clash with Sydney FC on Saturday, battling out a 0-0 draw with the runaway league leaders at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium.
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Both sides created a number of decent chances on a rainy afternoon in Kogarah, with Diego Castro and Bruno Fornaroli going close for the visitors and Liam Reddy producing two fine saves to deny home duo Anthony Caceres and Milos Ninkovic.
The result leaves Glory in fifth place on the Hyundai A-League ladder ahead of back-to-back home games against Western United and Melbourne Victory.
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The opening 15 minutes of the game saw the men in white enjoy the bulk of possession and territory and yet it was Reddy who was forced to make the first save, the ex-Sydney FC man getting down well to his right to keep out an angled strike from Caceres.
And the visitors then enjoyed a reprieve midway through the half when Luke Brattan capitalised upon a defensive mix-up and found the net, only to have his effort ruled out by the VAR for handball.
Glory’s response came in the form of a fine James Meredith cross which Ivan Franjic nodded back across goal and only some strong defensive work from Alex Wilkisnon prevented the lurking Fornaroli from getting a meaningful contact on the ball.
As half-time approached, both sides threatened in quick succession, Greg Wuthrich forced to produce a perfectly-timed sliding challenge to keep out Adam le Fondre andCastro sending a chipped effort over the bar having been teed up by Joel Chianese.
Reddy’s regulation block from Joel King marked the first goalmouth action of the second half, before Fornaroli found the side-netting with a close-range header at the other end.
As the tempo of the game continued to rise, a goalbound Castro chip was deflected over the bar by a lunging Brattan and Fornaroli’s shot on the turn from the edge of the box drew a save from Andrew Redmayne in the home goal.
Paulo Retre’s stinging effort then flew narrowly wide for the Sky Blues and as the final whistle loomed, Reddy did superbly to deny Ninkovic in a one-on-one situation after the Serbian midfielder had latched on to a long clearance from Redmayne.
There was still time for Ninkovic to play Trent Buhagiar in on goal, but the substitute fired wastefully wide and Glory were able to see out the final seconds to claim the point their performance deserved.
Match Details
Sydney FC 0 Perth Glory 0
Half-time: 0-0
Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, Kogarah
Referee: Chris Beath
Assistant Referee 1: Ashley Beecham
Assistant Referee 2: Scott Edeling
Fourth Official: Stephen Lucas
VAR: Craig Zetter
Sydney FC: 1.Andrew REDMAYNE (gk), 4.Alex WILKINSON (c), 6.Ryan McGOWAN, 8.Paulo RETRE, 9.Adam LE FONDRE, 10.Milos NINKOVIC, 11.Kosta BARBAROUSES (12.Trent BUHAGIAR 80′), 16.Joel KING, 17.Anthony CACERES (5.Alex BAUMJOHANN 66′), 23.Rhyan GRANT, 26.Luke BRATTAN.
Substitutes not used: 2.Patrick FLOTTMANN, 3.Ben WARLAND, 20.Thomas HEWARD-BELLE (gk), 21.Harry VAN DER SAAG, 24.Marco TILIO
Yellow Cards: None
Red Cards: None
Perth Glory: 33.Liam REDDY (gk), 2.Alex GRANT, 4.Greg WUTHRICH, 5.Ivan FRANJIC, 7.Joel CHIANESE, 8.James MEREDITH (21.Tarek ELRICH 73′), 9.Bruno FORNAROLI (18.Nicholas D’AGOSTINO 88′), 16.Tomislav MRCELA, 17.Diego CASTRO (c), 27.JUANDE (29.Kristian POPOVIC 76′), 88.Neil KILKENNY
Substitutes not used: 1.Tando VELAPHI (gk), 3.Jacob TRATT, 20.Jake BRIMMER
Yellow Cards: Mrcela
Red Cards: None
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