A battling performance was not enough to secure a first away win of the ALW season for Glory as they went down 1-0 to high-flying Melbourne Victory at the Home of the Matildas on Saturday.
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Defender Kayla Morrison bagged what proved to be the winner on 33 minutes, thumping home on the volley after the Glory defence had failed to fully clear a free-kick into the box.
The visitors’ hopes of forcing their way back into the game suffered a blow when Tijan Mckenna collected two yellow cards in the space of five second half minutes, both for fouls on Alex Chidiac.
But making light of their numerical disadvantage, Stephen Peters’ side took the game to the hosts in the final quarter and several saves were required from former Glory ‘keeper Courtney Newbon to keep them at bay.
The win sealed a season double for Victory following their win by the same scoreline at the Sam Kerr Football Centre last month and while they climb to second in the table, Glory remain in tenth spot.
On a warm evening in the Victorian capital, it was Glory who created the first chances as Gabby Hollar, Grace Johnston and Caitlin Doeglas all got shots away without managing to seriously trouble Newbon.
And yet it was Victory who drew first blood when Morrison capitalised upon some unconvincing defending and crashed a spectacular effort past Dumont from just inside the box.
Naomi Chinnama then produced a superb sliding block to foil Emily Gielnik in first-half stoppage-time and Glory seemed to take heart from that vital intervention as they started the second half brightly.
McKenna sent a chipped effort narrowly over the bar immediately after the restart before Hollar forced Newbon to go full length to her left to push away a curling effort which looked destined to find the far corner.
The dismissal of McKenna on the hour-mark might have been expected to signal the end of Glory’s challenge, but instead they redoubled their efforts and were unfortunate not to come away with a share of the spoils as the hosts just about managed to keep them out.
Match Details
Ninja A-League 2024/25 Season Round 12
Melbourne Victory 1 (Morrison 33′) Perth Glory 0
Half-time: 1-0
Home of the Matildas
Saturday 18 January 2025
Referee: Rachel Mitchenson
Melbourne Victory: 50. Courtney NEWBON (gk), 3. Claudia BUNGE, 8. Alana MURPHY, 10. Alex CHIDIAC, 11. Nicki FLANNERY (5.Sofia SAKALIS 71′), 13. Sara D’APPOLONIA, 15. Emily GIELNIK, 18. Kayla MORRISON, 23. Rachel LOWE, 24. Laura PICKETT, 66. Alana JANCEVSKI
Substitutes not used: 7. Ella O’GRADY, 62. Geo CANDY (gk), 27. Rosie CURTIS, 41. Jessica YOUNG,
Yellow Cards: Sakalis
Red Cards: None
Perth Glory: 1.Casey DUMONT, 5.Grace JOHNSTON, 6.Tijan MCKENNA, 7.Megan WYNNE, 8.Georgia CASSIDY (27.Charli WAINWRIGHT 28′) (23.Izzy DALTON 72′), 9.Gabby HOLLAR, 11.Natalie TATHEM, 12.Caitlin DOEGLAS (26.Tanika LALA 58′), 13.Naomi CHINNAMA, 14.Miku SUNAGA (4.Claudia VALLETTA 58′), 29.Onyinyechi ZOGG (co-c)
Substitutes not used: 21.Miranda TEMPLEMAN (gk)
Yellow Cards: McKenna
Red Cards: McKenna
#ONEGlory
