Daniel Bennie’s first senior goal was not enough to prevent Glory from slipping to a 2-1 defeat against Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park on Sunday afternoon.
View full match highlights HERE
View Alen Stajcic’s post-match media conference HERE
The 17-year-old’s moment to remember came on the hour-mark when he side-footed home a low cross from substitute Jarrod Carluccio.
But Glory were already trailing to two goals from Bruno Fornaroli at that stage and were ultimately unable to find an equaliser in the final half-hour of what was a compelling, end-to-end second half.
After a cagey opening, it was the hosts who broke the game open with 16 minutes played, Zinedine Machach and Daniel Arzani combining to pick out Fornaroli whose shot on the turn took a sizeable deflection on its way past Oli Sail in the Glory goal.
The home side duly looked to build on that breakthrough, with Fornaroli wasting a simple chance to make it 2-0 and Kaelan Majekodunmi producing a superb block to foil the Socceroos forward as he prepared to pull the trigger from close-range.
Having been on the back foot for much of the first half, the visitors looked more dangerous following the restart and came close to restoring parity when Adam Taggart’s shot was parried by Paul Izzo and Carluccio was just unable to head home the loose ball.
Within seconds of that chance, however, Alen Stajcic’s side found themselves 2-0 down, the dangerous Arzani delivering another fine cross and Fornaroli nodding in his 17th goal of the season.
To their credit, Glory refused to crumble and after Riley Warland saw his shot pushed onto the woodwork by Izzo, Bennie managed to halve the arrears.
David Williams provided the pass which gave Carluccio the opportunity to drive a low ball across the box and Bennie was perfectly placed to fire into the roof of the net.
Victory were clearly ruffled by that goal and were a touch fortunate not to concede a penalty soon after when Roly Bonevacia was adjudged by VAR not to have handled in the box.
Glory continued to press right until the end, but it was Victory who created the best two chances of the final quarter in the form of long-range strikes from Roly Bonevacia and Arzani, both of which were superbly blocked by Sail.
Match Details
Isuzu UTE A-League 2023/24 Season Round 22
Melbourne Victory 2 (Fornaroli 16′. 53′) Perth Glory 1 (Bennie 61′)
Half-time: 1-0
AAMI Park
Sunday 31 March 2024
Referee: Ben Abraham
Melbourne Victory: 20.Paul IZZO (gk), 2.Jason GERIA, 3.Adama TRAORE, 5.Damien DA SILVA, 8.Zinedine MACHACH (17.Nishan VELUPILLAY 80′), 10.Bruno FORNAROLI, 11.Ben FOLAMI (7.Chris IKONOMIDIS 80′), 19.Daniel ARZANI (23.Salim KHELIFI 90+2′), 21.Roderick MIRANDA, 22.Jake BRIMMER (28.Roly BONEVACIA 70′), 25.Ryan TEAGUE (27.Jordi VALADON 70′)
Substitutes not used: 14.Connor CHAPMAN, 30.Ahmad TALEB (gk)
Yellow Cards: Velupillay
Red Cards: None
Perth Glory: 1.Oli SAIL (gk), 2.Johnny KOUTROUMBIS (16.Josh RAWLINS 56′), 14.Riley WARLAND (31.Joel ANASMO 81′), 19.Trent OSTLER, 20.Giordano COLLI (8.Mustafa AMINI 60′), 22.Adam TAGGART (co-c), 23.Daniel BENNIE, 27.Jayden GORMAN (9.David WILLIAMS 55′), 28.Kaelan MAJEKODUNMI, 29.Darryl LACHMAN, 77.Bruce KAMAU (17.Jarrod CARLUCCIO 46′)
Substitutes not used: 3.Jacob MUIR, 13.Cameron COOK (gk)
Yellow Cards: None
Red Cards: None
#ONEGlory
