Glory kept a fourth successive clean sheet as they fought out a tense and bruising 0-0 draw with second-placed Melbourne City at AAMI Park.
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Both sides had their opportunities to bag all three points, with the visitors coming closest to breaking the deadlock when City defender Curtis Good deflected the ball against his own post as he attempted to clear a Neil Kilkenny corner.
Glory’s leading scorer Bruno Fornaroli was also denied by Dean Bouzanis in the second half, while Liam Reddy produced fine saves to foil Adrian Luna and the competition’s leading scorer, Jamie Maclaren.
The result extended Glory’s unbeaten run against City at AAMI Park to eight games, while also ensuring that the men in purple retained third spot on the ladder and Head Coach Tony Popovic was pleased with the overall display.
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“It was a solid away performance and a clean sheet is always good,” he told Fox Sports.
“We came up against a very good side who had brought in a couple of new, foreign players.
“In the last couple of games, we’ve been a little depleted and I’m delighted with the last two results that we’ve picked up on the road.
“We defended very well; we had to. There are a lot of tired bodies out there from the last two tough away games and a heavy pitch, but hopefully we’ll recover some bodies for next week and have a strong squad available for our next home game.
“We take a good point away from home back to Perth.”
It was Melbourne City who were fastest out of the blocks at the start of the game, with Reddy forced to into action to deny both Florin Berenguer and Maclaren inside the opening three minutes.
Luna was next to try his luck for the hosts and again Reddy was equal to the task, producing an acrobatic, fingertip save to keep out the Uruguayan’s venomous strike.
Glory’s first sight of goal, meanwhile, arrived shortly after the half-hour when Kilkenny’s corner reached fellow-former-City man Fornaroli whose header drifted wide.
And as half-time loomed, the men in purple threatened again, this time Diego Castro toe-poking the ball straight at Bouzanis in the home goal after neat approach play featuring Kim and Joel Chianese.
City began the second half as brightly as they had the first and yet it was Glory who thought they had been handed the perfect opportunity to break the deadlock on 55 minutes.
Referee Daniel Elder initially pointed the spot after Fornaroli was bowled over in the box by Josh Brillante, but after a referral to the VAR, Glory’s top scorer was found to have been coming back from an offside position and the decision was overturned.
With the game then entering its final quarter, chances gradually began to flow more regularly at either end, Maclaren heading narrowly wide for the men in sky blue before Fornaroli was denied by Bouzanis and Good inadvertently turned a Kilkenny corner against his own post.
But although both teams enjoyed spells of sustained pressure in the latter stages, neither managed to create any further serious efforts on goal, ensuring that the spoils would be shared.
Match Details
Melbourne City 0 Perth Glory 0
Half-Time: 0-0
AAMI Park, Melbourne
Referee: Daniel Elder
Assistant Referee 1: David Walsh
Assistant Referee 2: Tony Peart
Fourth Official: Alex King
VAR: Kris Griffiths-Jones
Melbourne City: 23.Dean BOUZANIS (gk), 3.Scott JAMIESON (c), 4.Harrison DELBRIDGE, 5.Jack HENDRY, 6.Josh BRILLANTE, 9.Jamie MACLAREN, 10.Florin BERENGUER (7.Rostyn GRIFFITHS 90′), 11.Craig NOONE, 14.Markel SUSAETA (13.Nathaniel ATKINSON 73′), 19.Lachlan WALES, 20.Adrian LUNA (2.Scott GALLOWAY 90′), 22.Curtis GOOD
Substitutes not used: 30.Moudi NAJJAR, 46.Joe GAUCI (gk), 49.Stefan COLAKOVSKI
Yellow Cards: Jamieson
Red Cards: None
Perth Glory: 33.Liam REDDY (gk), 2.Alex GRANT, 4.Gregory WUTHRICH, 7.Joel CHIANESE (23.Dane INGHAM 80′), 8.James MEREDITH (5.Ivan FRANJIC 74′), 9.Bruno FORNAROLI, 12.Kim SOO-BEOM (3.Jacob TRATT 90′), 16.Tomislav MRCELA, 17.Diego CASTRO (c), 20.Jake BRIMMER, 88.Neil KILKENNY
Substitutes not used: 1.Tando VELAPHI (gk), 22.Vince LIA, 28.Gabriel POPOVIC, 29.Kristian POPOVIC
Yellow Cards: Kim
Red Cards: None
#OneGlory
