Glory’s run of three consecutive victories came to an end at HBF Park on Saturday evening as league leaders Sydney FC edged home 1-0 courtesy of an early goal from Abel Walatee.
Click HERE for full match highlights
Click HERE for Adam Griffiths’ post-match media conference
The former Western United man opened his account for the Sky Blues by pouncing to force home from close-range after just five minutes.
Glory improved as the game wore on, however and despite losing starting forwards Jaiden Kucharski and Adam Taggart to injury, they laid siege to the Sydney goal for much of the second half and were unfortunate not to emerge with a share of the spoils.
On a hot summer’s evening in the west, an expectant home crowd were stunned into silence when Sydney FC hit the front almost immediately, Tiago Quintal’s deflected ball into a crowded box eventually breaking for Walatee who netted at the far post.
It took Glory some time to recover from that early setback, but as the half wore on they looked increasingly dangerous and twice came close to levelling things up just before the first water break.
Kucharski managed to fire past Harrison Devenish-Meares, only for his effort to be controversially ruled out for a foul on Ben Garuccio in the build-up and then Brian Kaltak missed what proved to be his side’s best chance of the night.
A Tom Lawrence corner was half-cleared to Charbel Sharmoon who hooked the ball back into the box, but the unmarked Kaltak was unable to keep his header on target.
Glory remained on the front foot for much of the rest of the opening period, without quite managing to unlock a well-drilled Sydney defence and that pattern was replicated for the bulk of the second half.
Two minutes after the restart, the lively Kucharski slammed a 25m strike into the side-netting before his eventual replacement, Khoa Ngo, saw a goalbound effort blocked by a cluster of Sydney defenders.
In another goalmouth scramble, Nicholas Pennington was just unable to stab the ball home and the midfielder then fired narrowly wide after Tom Lawrence’s initial shot had been charged down by a lunging Marcel Tisserand.
Roared on by The Shed, Glory redoubled their efforts in the final minutes, but with Perth local Alex Grant to the fore, Ufuk Talay’s men held on to record their sixth win in eight games.
Match Details
Isuzu UTE A-League 2025/26 Season Round 8
Perth Glory 0 Sydney FC 1 (Walatee 5′)
Half-time: 0-1
HBF Park
Saturday 13 December 2025
Referee: Lachlan Keevers
Attendance: 6689
Perth Glory: 29.Matt SUTTON (gk), 2.Charbel SHAMOON, 4.Scott WOOTTON (co-c), 7.Nicholas PENNINGTON, 9.Jaiden KUCHARSKI (26.Khoa NGO 51′), 18.Rhys BOZINOVSKI (5.Riley FOXE 90+6′), 19.Josh RISDON (3.Sam SUTTON 51′), 22.Adam TAGGART (co-c) (17.Arion SULEMANI 40′), 27.Will FRENEY, 34.Tom LAWRENCE, 45.Brian KALTAK
Substitutes not used: 6.Brandon O’NEILL, 8.Callum TIMMINS, 40.Ryan WARNER (gk),
Yellow Cards: Lawrence
Red Cards: None
Sydney FC: 12. Harrison DEVENISH-MEARES (GK), 5. Alex GRANT, 7. Piero QUISPE (41. Alexandar POPOVIC 83′), 9. Victor CAMPUZANO (8. Wataru KAMIJO, 71′), 11. Abel WALATEE (16. Joel KING 82′), 17. Ben GARUCCIO, 20. Tiago QUINTAL (13. Pat WOOD 65′), 23. Rhyan GRANT (C), 32. Marcel TISSERAND, 35. Al Hassan TOURE, 36. Rhys YOULLEY
Substitutes not used: 1. Gus HOEFSLOOT (GK), 22. Mathias MACALLISTER, 26. Nikolas ALFARO
Yellow Cards: Grant, Devenish-Meares
Red Cards: None
#ONEGlory
ALM Match Wrap: Gallant Glory come up short against league leaders
